Research - Observe - Make: An Alternative Manual for Architectural Education 9783035604238, 9783035604177

Citation preview

Research

Observe

Make

Analyse Explore Enquire Investigate Probe Audit Control Delve Experiment Groundwork Inquest Inquisition Observe Probe Quest Scrutinise Fact-find Fieldwork Legwork r and d Examine Study Poll Question Check Go-over Dig Rummage Look into Expose Unearth

Conclude Examine Experience Inspect Investigate Measure Note Perceive Remark Research Review Study Survey Check Detect Estimate Heed Mark Mind Monitor Notice Once-over Overlook Probe Regard Search Supervise Watch Ascertain Notice Recognize

Cause Compose Form Generate Manufacture Prepare Produce Accomplish Adjust Arrange Assemble Brew Conceive Construct Cook Fabricate Fashion Forge Frame Hatch Initiate Invent Mould Originate Procreate Shape Spawn Synthesize Bring about Draw on Put together

Michelle Howard (Ed.) Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna Research – Observe – Make (ROM) An Alternative Manual for Architectural Education

Birkhäuser Basel

Table of contents



Preface Michelle Howard Introducing Research – Observe – Make (ROM)10

+

Research – Observe – Make + Reflect

14



Michelle Howard The Development of Research – Observe – Make (ROM)

16

+.1

Construction Material Technology (CMT) Conversation Series / Konversationsreihe Christian Fröhlich

24

+.1.1 +.1.2 +.1.3 +.1.4 +.1.5

Interview with Michelle Howard Interview mit Peter Bauer Interview mit Helmut Hempel Interview mit Jochen Käferhaus  Interview mit Günther Dreger and Benedikt Frass

26 28 30 32 34

1

Book 1 – Elemental Interactivity 

36

Jochen Käferhaus  ROM – Vorsprung durch Technik

38

1.1

Elemental Interactivity I Building a Good climate – Studio description With commentaries by Mark West and Meritt Bucholz

48

1.1.1 1.1.2 1.1.3 1.1.4 1.1.5 1.1.6

Karlis Berzins – Postion vs Disposition Doris Scheicher – Moss Pavilion Dawid Klich – Bamboo Pavilion Orit Theuer – Activating Schiller Fabian Liszt – Neglige Matiss Kaufmannis – Stacked Pavilion

52 54 56 58 60 62

1.2

Elemental Interactivity II Gone with the Wind – Studio description With commentaries by Peter Carroll and Michael Stadler

64

1.2.1 1.2.2 1.2.3 1.2.4

Desislava Petkova and Matej Malenka – The Beast David Rasner and Nikolaus Rach – The Wind Waves Instrument Ömer Pekin and Nikola Znaor – Exhausted! Recycling Unwanted Air Lukas Wulz and Daniel Niens – Two Frames. Perceiving Energy.

68 70 72 74

1.3 1.3.1 1.3.2 1.3.3 1.3.4

Elemental Interactivity III  On the Modifications of Clouds – Studio description  With commentaries by Marike Schuurmann and Stefan Rutzinger Eva Herunter and Fabian Puttinger – Hygrometer Lukas Debiasi, Anna Aichinger and Frank Ellenberger – 110G Patrick Pregesbauer and Jiri Tomicek – Interpolation Roxi Rieder, Anna Requat and Anna Valentiny – Particles

76 80 82 84 86

2

Book 2 – Spatial Interactivity 

Helmut Hempel ROM – Das Einmaleins 2.1 Spatial Interactivity I Building Fast – What Succeeds The Secession? – Studio description With commentaries by Mario Carpo and Hannes Stiefel 

88

90

98

2.1.1 2.1.2 2.1.3

Marketa Brezovska – Haus 01 Robert Freudenberg – Simple and Strong Franz Kropatschek – Pixellate

102 104 106

2.2

Spatial Interactivity II Connecting Spaces – Studio description With a commentary by Barbara Campbell-Lange 

108

2.2.1 2.2.2 2.2.3 2.2.4

Martin Denk – Connecting Cubes  Perrine Montfort – The Way  Lukas Pazmandy – Atrium House  Mechthild Weber – Vertical Town Square 

112 114 116 118

2.3

Spatial Interactivity III The Audacity of Preservation – Studio description With a commentary by Nasrine Seraji and Anett Zinsmeister 

120

2.3.1 2.3.2 2.3.3 2.3.4 2.3.5 2.3.6 2.3.7

Laurenz Berger – Grasping Character, Introducing Looseness  Märtins Duselis – Just Enough Light  Barbara Weber – The Well-Tempered Environment of the University of Economics  Christopher Ghouse – Continuous Change  Peter Jakowitsch – Modern Tourism  Miriam Pollak – Connecting Spaces  Maximilian Weidacher – Lonely Platforms 

132 134 136 138 140

2.4

Spatial Interactivity IV The Efficiency of Looseness – Studio description With a commentary by Shelley Mcnamara and Martin Lechner

142

2.4.1 2.4.2 2.4.3 2.4.4 2.4.5

Matthias Brandmaier – Vertical Looseness  Tina Wintersteiger – On Air  Christoph Edler – Cutting Transitions  Jana Sipulova – Undesired Solitude  Elisabeth Zeininger – Loose Hub 

146 148 150 152 154

128 130

3

Book 3 – Material Interactivity 

156



Peter Bauer ROM – Eine Abrechnung 

158

3.1

Material Interactivity I Landscape Una[Bridge]d – Studio description With commentaries by Hans Frey and Inge Andritz 

162

3.1.1 3.1.2 3.1.3

Teresa Traunsteiner – Mind the Gaps Martin Radner – Detour Sebastian Bauer – The Nature and Technology Trail 

166 168 170

3.2

Material Interactivity II Water, Aggregate, Cement and a Container – Studio description With commentaries by Vincent Ducatez and Peter Ramskogler

172

3.2.1 3.2.2 3.2.3 3.2.4 3.2.5

Lucie Najvarova – Eleven Vaults Christopher Ghouse – Topographic  David Spang – Templar Landscape Ralph Steffek – Hidden Innards Michael Hansen – Cones of Light and Shade

176 178 180 182 184

3.3

Material Interactivity III There is a Light that Never Goes Out – Studio description With commentaries by Shadi Rahbaran and Andre Broesel

186

3.3.1 3.3.2 3.3.3

Fabian Liszt – Body, Brain and Light A project for people with epilepsy Ben Grabherr – Retrospect and Prospect A project for people with dementia Sureya Miller – Light Movement Number 1 A project for people with Cystic Fibrosis

190 192 194

4

Book 4 – Workshops, Lectures and Experiments 

4.1

Benedikt Frass und Günther Dreger ROM – Modellbau ist Denken  Workshops & Short Projects With commentaries by Hermann Czech and Scott Chaseling

4.1.1

Glass I: Seeing Through the Transparency Myth Lectures with Michelle Howard /Workshop with Scott Chaseling 4.1.2 Glass II: There Is a Light that Never Goes Out  With Rike Scholle and Eduard Deubzer The Good Climate Workshop  4.1.3 With Michelle Howard 4.1.4 The Acoustics Workshop With Renz van Luxemburg The Concrete Workshop  4.1.5 With Michelle Howard The Architecture of Small Spaces Workshop  4.1.6 With Michelle Howard and Lisa Schmidt-Colinet

196

198

204 206 208 210 214 215 218

4.2

Lectures and Experiments in Shaping Materials With a commentary by Gian Mauro Maurizio 

220

4.2.1 4.2.2 4.2.3 4.2.4 4.2.5 4.2.6 4.2.7 4.2.8 4.2.9

Blerim Kurtishi – Folding Concrete  Christiane Hütter – Controlling Deformation  Camilla Struklec – An Experiment with a Stretch Wrapping Film  Felix Rebers – Destroyed Trees  Jurgis Gecys – Inflatable Formwork for Organic Solid Shapes  Kay Sallier – Cuir Bouilli  Rena Giesecke – Smocking Structures  Miriam Pollak – Sugar Landscape  Max Müller and Max Weidacher – Concrete from Scratch 

222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230

4.3 4.3.1 4.3.2 4.3.3 4.3.4

Lectures and Experiments in Observation With a commentary by Jürgen Radatz

232

Terezia Greskova – 144 Hours in a Train  Anna Csefalvay – Daily Dust Diary  Bastian Vollert – Analysis Type II  Teresa Traunsteiner – It’s a Noisy Day 

234 235 236 237

4.4

Lecture Series 

238

4.4.1 4.4.2 4.4.3

Materialising Ideas in an Age of Digital Production  Our Concrete Ideas  The Practice of Research 

240 242 243

Appendix

244

Contributors Commentators Sponsors Imprint 

246 250 254 255

Preface Michelle Howard Introducing Research – Observe – Make (ROM)

This publication entitled Research – Observe – Make, describes the evolution of the Construction Material Technology Platform since 2008 and lays the basis for its future development. Research – Observe – Make or ROM describes a process which is A-Linear just as that of making architecture is. The evolution of this process is seated in the conviction that greater interaction with the world around us can provide untold levels of inspiration and indeed propose solutions if we only looked closely enough. ROM is separated into 5 Books: +, 1, 2, 3 & 4. Books 1, 2 & 3 describe families of studios, called series connected by Interactivity, a preoccupation which underlies all of the themes we have delved into, be they political, theoretical, historical, technological or philosophical. Book + Book 1 Book 2 Book 3 Book 4

is both a reflection on and introduction to ROM the Elemental Interactivity Series the Spatial Interactivity Series the Material Interactivity Series describes workshops lectures and experiments.

While these Books together comprise one entity, they can be discovered separately. Each Book begins with a related essay by one of our collaborators, who are not always architects, and broach topics relevant to ROM (Research – Observe – Make).

10

Fig. 1 Looking through a piece of glass (which has been etched with a subtle pattern and lightly slumped by Ileana Bindean) to the Schillerplatz in front of the Academy, see ROM 3.3

Book + The development of ROM, by Michelle Howard, a practising architect. Book 1 ROM – Vorsprung durch Technik, by Jochen Käferhaus, an environmental engineer. Book 2 ROM – Das Einmaleins, by Helmut Hempel, an architect specialised in building construction. Book 3 ROM – Eine Abrechnung, by Peter Bauer, a structural engineer. Book 4 ROM – Modellbau ist Denken, by Benedikt Frass and Günther Dreger, both architects and modelmakers

Fig. 2 Sara Hammer prepares a light and acoustic ceiling intervention in the good climate workshop, see ROM 4.1.3

Each design studio begins with concise commentaries from special people who have been involved with the platform since 2008, whether in Juries, Lectures, Consultations or Workshops. Many of them are not architects or are not just architects and have used their skills to explore new frontiers. Indeed the compulsion to try out the skills of their profession in other fields, and sometimes even discover new ones, are attributes that we value beyond measure and actively cultivate in our students. It is hoped that these short statements will provoke a conversation with the ideas portrayed in this book and open them up to further development and discussion. Architecture has been taught at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna since 1725. In 2008, The Institute for Art and Architecture developed the foundation for a new type of architectural education based on five research plat­ forms. The five platforms are: Analogue & Digital Production (ADP), Eco­ logy Sustainability & Conservation (ESC), History Theory & Criticism (HTC) , Geography Landscape & Cities (GLC) and Construction Material & Technology (CMT) whose development is presented here. In this respect architecture at the Academy is both very old and very new. Although most inter­ national schools have just discovered multi-lingualism in the last 20 years, Preface

11

Fig. 3 Benedikt Frass presenting the requirements for the montage of prototypes in the building a good climate studio, see ROM 1.1

Fig. 4 Review and discussion at the Efficiency of Looseness Studio with cross-sections of the ORF building by Roland Rainer in the foreground, see ROM 2.4

12

Fig. 5 Group picture in front of the Flying Boat Museum at Foynes in Ireland during an excursion to windy locations for the Gone with the Wind studio, see ROM 1.2

Fig. 6 Extract from the weather logbook which records ocular observations of the weather at the meteorological station at the Hohe Warte in Vienna. Human obser­vation still plays an invaluable part in weather forecasting worldwide.

it has been a reality in the Academy since 1688 when Vienna became the centre of an Empire with at least 7 official languages. In ROM we use German and English and have chosen to abstain from translations. Thanks to the talented and adventurous students who consented to conduct these experiments with us and whose work is both the result of and the most important tool for the development of ROM. Sincere thanks to our sponsors who were generous enough to support us. Lastly, a special thanks to Nasrine Seraji, who instigated the platform system in 2008 and to Wolfgang Tschapeller, the current head of the institute, who insisted that ROM exist. This is a publication dedicated to a platform dedicated to construction, materials and technology, and its physical manifestation is an essential aspect of its conception. ROM has been conceived to be read, navigated and handled like the manuals you use to fix or improve your home or car and to resist just as much use, abuse, and wear and tear. The bible, the original manual also had its part to play as influence on design for use. I hope that you will enjoy reading and holding ROM. Preface

13

Book +

Research  –  Observe  –  Make  +  Reflect

The teaching process is first and foremost one of learning and looking and can pretend to have a value only when it is also one of continuous tweaking and adjustment. Even then it would be a mistake to assume that one should not, from time to time, question the very basis we tweak and adjust. In fact, experience has shown that the only effective strategy is to try to observe what is happening with as few preconceptions as possible.

Michelle Howard The Development of Research – Observe – Make (ROM)

The great spectre that recurrently haunted many of the most sensitive men of the last two hundred years is that there may eventually come a time when all the richness and amplitude of Creation will simply pass through the eyes of a man into his head and there be turned by the brain into some sort of formula or equation. (Nathan A. Scott Jr.) The teaching process is first and foremost one of learning and looking and can pretend to have a value only when it is also one of continuous tweaking and adjustment. Even then it would be a mistake to assume that one should not, from time to time, question the very basis we tweak and adjust. In fact, experience has shown that the only effective strategy is to try to observe what is happening with as few preconceptions as possible. The development we present in this book is no exception, should we seem to arrive at any conclusions, be assured that they will soon be challenged by the next learning experience or realisation. The processes of architectural creation are not linear, inspiration, information and intelligence can be found in the most unexpected places and enrich the process at any stage. In Research – Observe – Make, we propose no definite stages to follow, if we propose anything it is a way of thinking which is awake to the

16

Book +

Fig. 1 Commentary on the commentary on Aristotle’s “Meteorology” by Thomas Aquinas – Jiri Tomicek Observation for project 1.3.3 in ROM

many possibilities inherent in the task at hand and encourages an embrace of complexity. It is after all this very complexity which has shaped and enriched the world we are lucky enough to inhabit. In effect, on closer observation of this wonderful world there are very few linear processes that exist at all and in this respect Architecture is well suited to it. Research: In order to contribute to society with this act called architecture, we need first to define the real questions. One tends to assume, quite reasonably, that the information given for a certain task ought to be useful. But this unfortunately leads to propositions which are crippled by those assumptions. The revelation of underlying problems often has more value than running after so-called solutions.

Clockwise Fig. 2 A Study of the Sonification of the Wind (Image of 1/1 prototypes) Mario Kaya, Research for the studio 1.2 in ROM Fig. 3 A Study of the efficiency of the usage of the workshop areas within the ORF media headquarters (film Still) Christoph Edler, see 2.4.3 in ROM Fig. 4 The Wind Waves (Installation) – a reflection on understanding the world solely on the dashboard level, David Rasner and Nikolaus Rach, see 1.2.2 in ROM

Observe: Architecture is always an intervention, an addition to an existing environment with its own unique, irreplaceable qualities. The use and development of methods of observation facilitate the discovery and appre­ ciation of these qualities and permit the appearance of truly integrated architectural propositions. Make: Approaching architecture on an architectural scale reveals the importance of essential aspects of the making of architecture such as the organisational, structural, material, political and technical. Planning in the modernist sense has revealed its many flaws and the time is ripe for the discovery of looser alternatives. Those very alternatives can most probably be discovered through making. Introduction

The Development of ROM

17

Research – Observe – Make: Pulling back from the narrowness of reacting and problem solving through research and observation, and looking wforward past planning through making. The Interactivities ROM is the lens through which we have taken small steps towards a greater understanding and exploitation of Interactivity be it Elemental (Book 1), Spatial (Book 2) or Material (Book3). The facilitation and promotion of this Interactivity is at the crux of our pursuits because we live in this particular world on this particular planet with its particular characteristics and we thrive by interacting with it. The complexity embraced by Interactivity is of immense value if we, in our studies of it, choose to render it visible in order to comprehend and integrate it rather than distil this richness into a poor representation. The embrace of Interactivity and its accompanying complexity is not an easy step to take in the world of Architecture and even less so in the world of the teaching of Architecture where the tendency is to reduce the tasks given to tight closely defined frameworks. But historically, we as a profession have habitually directed the whole complex process of making architecture. Only recently has it become more acceptable to “either” be an architect who builds “or” one who writes, to “either” be an architect who designs the shell of a building “or” one who designs the interior, to “either” be interested in design “or” the act of building. But perhaps, and so indeed I would hope, this tendency is itself a process, whose path needs to be trodden and truly tried and tested in all of its manifestations, which then at last and of itself will lead us to a fuller embrace of comprehensive practice. Central Climate Regulator In the past, we experienced technological change in the manner of sleep-walkers. Our unspoken slogan has been “technology über alles” and we have been willing to shape our lives to fit the requirements of technology, not the requirements of culture. This is a form of stupidity, especially in an age of vast technological change. We need to proceed with our eyes wide open so that we many use technology rather than be used by it. (Neil Postman: Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change) Much as we architects have been steadily pushed from their traditional central position to the side-lines of the building process, so too does architectural space find itself in the reductive position of purveyor of square meterage for the powers who lay the groundwork and establish the rules for the calculations of a room’s latent value and energetic performance. This is a wholly unsustainable use of resources and destruction of the quality of our lives which, increasingly, are spent indoors. Any real debate about how to live more consciously in our world must start with where we live and work, in the house and in the building. Have we forgotten that the primary role of the building, the reason we began to build in the first place, is that of climate regulator and shelter from inclement weather? Neil Postman, the media theorist, said that that for every advantage a new technology offers, there is always a corresponding disadvantage. With this in mind, we should ensure that the technologies of building services do not eliminate the essential attributes of the buildings they were created to enhance. Building services should remain just that, servants. Efficient technology which turns a ventilation system on and off for us will not contribute anything of value if the potential of the spaces and surfaces which surround them are not explored and harnessed. The best lighting system is no substitute for natural light and the most well planned work18

Book +

Fig. 5 On a particularly cold evening I made this image of the Dutch Embassy in Berlin under construction, the concrete shell had been wrapped in plastic sheeting to prevent it from cracking. I was transfixed, here one of the very few contemporary tailor-made buildings revealed its poten­tial otherness. Image of the Dutch Embassy Berlin (OMA / Michelle Howard project architect) Fig. 6 A brick facing for a brick wall in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, taken during a site visit for the ORDOS 100 project curated by the architects Herzog de Meuron and the artist Ai WeiWei. aiweiwei.com/documentaries/ordos-100

rooms are less than efficient when they do not exploit the potential to capture a maximum of natural light for the greater part of the working day. New electronic technology, especially that of sensors and sensitive materials only have real potential if they are used to activate buildings, enable them to work harder and do more. In the world today the only truly useful electronic technology is that which renders most other electronic technologies useless. This is possible if the inherent potential of architectural space is harnessed and reactivated. Architectural space, served by a respectful technology, has the potential to retrieve its original role as our central climate regulator and in so doing, further enrich our lives with the beauty inherent in spaces which once again exhibit the Vitruvian virtues of firmitas, utilitas and venustas (solidity, usefulness, beauty).

1 Saving the Appearances: A Study in Idolatry, 1957 by Owen Barifel

Participation In 1906, Louis Sullivan wrote in his essay ‘What is Architecture’, “All buildings have arisen, have stood, and stand as physical symbols of the psychic state of the people … throughout the past and the present, each building stands as a social act”. We are living in a period of greater participation and awareness sparked by a flow of information that many once all powerful institutions have found nigh on impossible to curb or control. We have recently witnessed the Arab Spring, the Occupy Movement, WikiLeaks and the revelations of Edward Snowdon to name but a few. These powerful events iterate the fact that active (and interactive) participation on a myriad of levels is the only way to prevent society from falling apart. Could our current psychic state prepare the ground for an interactive architecture? In Saving the Appearances1, the poet and philosopher Owen Barfield pleaded for a world of renewed participation. To paraphrase Barfield, participation has altered along with the evolution of consciousness. Thus

Fig. 7 Diagram of the South House for the Ordos 100 project (Michelle Howard/ constructconcept). It exploits the prevailing winds, maximises the ingress of “lucky” southern light and forges a direct relationship with the public park. Fig. 8 Smart Surfaces House for the IBA Hamburg 2013 (Michelle Howard/ constructconcept). It sits lightly on stilts upon a wooded floodplain and exploits smart materials which only reveal themselves on closer observation. Perspective by Werner Skvara Introduction

The Development of ROM

19

with the rise of self-consciousness we have moved further away from the world and an understanding of it. Barfield thought that, through the development of the imagination, we could again participate and that participation would allow the world to reveal its underlying structures to us rather than the chaos that we now prefer to assume because we rely on stunted des­criptive methods. Atmo-seer: Rendering the hidden climates of spaces visible This research project pursued together with the PhD Students, Mahsa Malekazari and Solmaz Kamailfard attempts to renew participation with an emphasis on architecture. The Atmo-seer project, as implied by the name, seeks to render the “atmosphere” visible through installations which raise awareness as to how it is put together. Through this increased awareness we expect to increase the determination of people to adjust their spatial climate to suit in a fashion more sensitive to both the built world as manifested by architectural space and the natural one whose complex interactivities are made accessible. We propose that such awareness cannot solely be achieved by scientific studies, but through activating the psychological and social power of art to convey complex ideas in an ori­ ginal and accessible way. By focusing on the interdependency between humans, climatic comfort and the omnipresent technological environment, the Atmo-seer project seeks to increase the perceptibility of spatial climates, specifically air movements. The project will make use of calibrated interactive artistic and architectural installations which not only render the current state visible but constantly readjust to changing conditions. The study covers two regions of West Asia and West Europe, from the very first stages of documenting precedents to the planning and monitoring the proposed installations. This will be achieved through cooperation between the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and the Art University of Tehran. This work indicates possible directions toward achieving finely tuned environments and a greater interaction between human beings and their surrounding climates. It explores the relationship between a comprehension of spatial climate conditions and the willingness of the user thus informed to adjust them independently, and consequently, attempts to determine if we would re-evaluate our definition of climatic comfort if the acuteness of our observational powers were thus honed. 20

Book +

Fig. 9 A rainbow in Waterford, Ireland. Owen Barfield used the Rainbow to differentiate between the dream Rainbow which is private representation and the actual rainbow which is a shared representation

Fig. 10 Particles Project following Lavoisier’s Principle “Nothing is lost, nothing is added, everything is trans­formed”, – Anna Requat, Roxy Rieder & Anna Valentiny, see project 1.3.4 in ROM Fig. 11 Sliced Sectional Model of the ORF building in Küniglberg, Vienna made by the students for the exhibition BIG! BAD? MODERN , see studio 2.4 in ROM

The Efficiency of Looseness Never before have so many people spent so much time planning our built environment. Indeed those planners, architects, urbanists, engineers and the like, have become obsessed with planning to the point that, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, they purport to have anticipated and mastered all possible eventualities in their projects before the building process has begun. Of course much of this attitude is a result of pressure exercised by building firms, lawyers and clients in a society which has come to favour the specialist professional. Experience shows continually and reliably that this level of assurance is impossible to attain in the art or profession of building. The list of continually re-planned major building projects is too long to attempt to summarise here but we could all readily produce a particularly apt example to illustrate this point. This insistence on exhaustive planning is even more surprising when we consider that never before have our industries, our professions, our companies and therefore our spatial needs endured so much change in such a short space of time. Thus while we have never planned more thoroughly, the requirements on which this planning is based have never changed so thoroughly so quickly. And it is simply not true that, disasters aside, what is planned is realised just so in the built project. So many improvisations are necessary, so much of the unpredictable occurs, so many things change. Introduction

The Development of ROM

21

A project idea or vision, pushed through without compromise to its execution is not necessarily a heroic deed to be lauded, indeed it can result in a building which is outdated before it has even been used. Doubt, fear and improvisation are essential parts of the practice of architecture and should not be pushed to the darkest recesses of the creative process, their contribution to the richness of the built environment should not be ignored or repressed. Isn’t it time that we pulled the important processes of improvisation in architecture out from their hiding places and swept planning from its pedestal? How does one both plan and leave room for improvisation? If we were to take a leaf from our partners the engineers we would determine the minimum space needed and add then add, a safety factor of, more space! Let us call this efficient generosity, looseness. The space wasting large rooms of the early 20th century Berliner tenements for example, prove efficient because they adapt themselves easily with very little change to such disparate roles as home, dental laboratory, cinema, factory or gallery and so on. Looseness allows for the reintegration of unique spatial qualities, thus while the space itself may be more generous than the so-called “flexible” one, it could offer better light and ventilation thus better climate without machinery and the accompanying costs. Looseness allows new uses to

22

Book +

Fig. 12 The first, second and third floor rooms of a “Grunderzeit” tenement in Berlin. The same room type easily adapts to being office, kitchen and living-room Fig. 13 Stacked House 2013 – a House with Potential … (Michelle Howard/constructconcept)

Fig. 14 Unravel House in Weissensee Berlin. Architecture is always an intervention, an addition to an existing environment with its own unique, irreplaceable qualities. (Michelle Howard/constructconcept)

develop in spaces without disrupting their essential qualities. They absorb change rather than just adapting to it. This is an alternative idea of efficien­ cy, one which admits the limits of planning, increases the life-span of buildings and permits generosity, robustness and beauty; the efficiency of looseness. Putting it all together “Architects ...are among the few professionals who are forced to work with present-day ideas of public life such as they are, and of necessity express and make these manifest to others.” Richard Sennett in ‘The Fall of Public Man 1977’ In the end, as architects, we assemble, ideas, things, people, places and buildings. We assemble and then we put it all together. In this essay I have attempted to describe the main ideas which have fuelled the themes pursued in ROM and created the tools for the assemblage of a direction in architecture and architectural education. These ideas and tools have led us to what some would perhaps define as unexpected avenues for an education in construction, materials and technology. Be assured that they were, in part, also unexpected for us. ROM is as much a result of the projects made by the students who surprised us continually with their inspiring interpretations of the tasks given to them, as the initial goals set out by us for those tasks. It is as much a book which, through reflection, seeks to illustrate and reveal the ideas unseen by the conscious mind at the time of their conception as one which describes a methodical exploration of clearly defined ideas. This careful and careless treading of the lines between control and participation, is a crucial a skill to acquire in order to contribute to this complex society whose most valuable representation is still its architecture.

Introduction

The Development of ROM

23

+.1 Christian Fröhlich Construction Material Technology (CMT) Konversationsreihe

Die Konversationsreihe mit den Lehrenden der CMT Plattform konfrontiert diese mit einer experimen­ tellen Entwurfsmethode, die auf drei Säulen beruht, Research – Observe – Make und deren vierte Säule „reflect“ sich in dieser Gesprächsserie abbildet und widerspiegelt. Die Lehrenden beantworten einen Fragenkatalog und helfen damit die Bandbreite an Positionen innerhalb der Plattform zu illustrieren. Dabei geht es zunächst um die namensgebenden Schlüsselbegriffe der Plattform: Konstruktion, Material, Technologie, um die Bedeutung von Medien – wie Licht und Luft – in der Architektur, aber auch den jeweils individuellen Forschungsbegriff. Die Befragten werden mit vier Thesen konfrontiert, die bei aller Heterogenität nach einem „common ground“ sucht, in der Haltung zur Architektur und im Zugang zur Entwurfsaufgabe. Die TeilnehmerInnen an diesen Gesprächen wurden unvorbereitet befragt, um möglichst intuitive, au­then­tische Antworten zu erhalten. Bemerkenswert ist, wie man auf die immer gleichen einfachen Fra­ gen eine derartige Bandbreite an Aussagen bekommen kann, womit sich die Ausgangsthese der CMT Konversationsreihe bestätigt: Bei den Befragten handelt es sich um sechs ExpertInnen, die in ihrem ureigenen Architektur-Kosmos lebe und diesen hier auch vermitteln. Anmerkung: Die hier abgedruckten Antworten stellen einen Auszug aus den Gesprächen dar, wenn man so will, ein »best of«, der charismatischsten Aussagen.

These 1 – Research Die Grundlage für jedes Projekt ruht in der Auseinan­ dersetzung mit dem konstruktiven, technologischen, ökologischen, geografischen, theoretischen, kulturellen Hintergrund einer Entwurfsaufgabe. Oder anders: die Grundlage einer Entwurfsaufgabe liegt zunächst im Hintergrund. Es gilt den Hintergrund zu finden. Ist Forschung ein essenzieller Teil deiner Lehre/Arbeit? Was ist Forschung in Kunst und Architektur? Was ist dein „heißestes Eisen“, das sich aus deiner aktuellen Forschung ergeben hat? These 2 – Observe Die Beobachtung und Aufzeichnung von Prozessen, Phänomenen und den Elementen und Medien der Architektur und ihrer Umgebung ist Teil unserer Arbeitsmethode. Nur genaue Beobachtung erlaubt eine seriöse Analyse. Welche „Aufzeichnungsver­ fahren“ verwendest du in deiner Lehre/Arbeit? Was ist ein Architektur-Experiment? Was ist dein „heißestes Eisen“, das sich aus deinen aktuellen Beobachtungen und Aufzeichnungen ergeben hat? These 3 – Make Die Essenz unseres Tuns ist das Produzieren. Nur das Realisieren gibt eine direkte Resonanz in CMT (Konstruktion, Material, Technologie). Welche Erkenntnisse gewinnst du / versprichst du dir daraus in deiner Lehre/Arbeit? Wie hat sich das Thema „Produktion“ verändert seit du unterrichtest? Was ist dein „heißestes Eisen“, das sich aus deinen aktuellen Produktionen ergeben hat? These 4 – Reflect Projekte bedürfen einer kritischen Reflexion. Erst in der kritischen Betrachtung danach, treten Dinge hervor die zuvor nicht bemerkbar waren. Welche Methoden der Reflexion verwendest du in deiner Arbeit/Lehre? Inwiefern hat sich ein Projekt im Nachhinein Durch Reflexion verwandelt? Was ist dein „heißestes Eisen“, das sich aus Deinen Reflexionen ergeben hat?

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+.1 Christian Fröhlich Construction Material Technology (CMT) Conversation Series

The conversation series with the lecturers of the CMT platform confronts them with an experimental design strategy which is based on three pillars, Research – Observe – Make and its fourth pillar “reflect” which is illustrated in the following con­ versations. The lecturers answered and reacted to a catalogue of questions and theses which we hope will help to illustrate the bandwidth of positions within the platform. They revolve around the key terms which give the platform its name, Construction, Materials and Technology, the importance of media such as light and air in architecture as well as individual terms of research. The respondents are confronted with four theses, who seek a common ground within a welcome heterogeneity of approaches to design strategies and positions on architecture. The respondents came to the interviews unprepared in order that their reactions be as authentic and intuitive as possible. It is remarkable that with such simple questions, such a large bandwidth of state­ments are possible, which confirms the intial thesis of the CMT conversation series. The respondents are six experts who communicate their personal architecture cosmos. The printed answers in this book are a snapshot of these interviews, a “best-of” the most charismatic answers.

Thesis 1 – Research The basis for every project lies in the debate between the constructive, technological, ecological, geographical, theoretical and cultural background of a design task. In other words, the basis for a design task lies in its background and it is the background that is to be found. Is research an essential part of your work and teaching, could your give us an example in your own work? What is research in Art and Architecture? What is the hot potato that you are grappling with in your current research? Thesis 2 – Observe The observation and recording of processes, phenomena, the elements and media of architecture and its environment constitutes and important part of our working method. Only a close observation can permit a serious analysis. What recording method do you use in your work and teaching? What is the hot potato that you are grappling with in your current observations? Thesis 3 – Make The essence of our concerns is production. Only realization can give a direct resonance in CMT. What insights do you gain or expect to gain through your work and teaching? Has the meaning of production changed since you teach? What is the hot potato that you are grappling with in your current productions? Thesis 4 – Reflect Projects need critical reflection. Only after critical consideration can things appear that has hitherto been unnoticed. What methods of reflection do you use in your work and teaching? To what extent has that work been transformed by reflection? What is the hot potato that you are grappling with in your current reflections?

Conversation Series

Introduction

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+.1.1 Research – Observe – Make + Reflect Interview with Michelle Howard

What is Material?

Material is something tangible, that you can experience and, even in the case of a material activated by sensors is touchable but does not have ­to be touched with the hands. When we walk into a room we sense whether the surrounding materials are absorbing humidity or reflecting our voices. Particularly in the case of acoustics we feel, without looking at the mate­­ rials, that they are hard, absorptive or reflective. We touch materials with every part of our body and our senses, materials ultimately, make up the atmosphere.

You bring up the atmosphere, then what is a medium?

A medium is a means to an end, it is half way to somewhere, and sometimes being half way to somewhere you find that you are already there.

What is Technology?

I prefer to use a German word, Sachlichkeit, because it intimates a passion for knowing exactly how things work. I like the idea of the architect as a scientist, I look at something extremely closely and when I do not understand it the format in which it is presented, I find another format in which to look at it extremely closely until I understand it fully. With technology there is the possibility, at least for a certain period of time, to know something for a fact and thus establish a basis for going further, much as one first lays foundations before building.

So, is technology cool?

Technology is ultimately creative, it enables the creation of works of archi­tecture which are also inspired. I still think about the statement made by Matthias Schüler, who is responsible the complex calculations involved in the planning of the new city of Masdar, in Abu Dhabi, which goes as follows, “before feeding data in to my computer programmes in order to calculate how a space will behave, I first make my own gut-driven judg­ements as to what the results should be. If the computer results do not resemble those judgements, then I adjust the data. I always trust my gut first”. This confidence in the human capacity to judge complex situations is something I am very sympathetic to.

“Is research an essential part of your work and teaching, could your give us an example in your own work?”

For the Dutch Embassy in Berlin we wanted to use curtains to help in re­ducing heat build-up, we also wanted them to soften the acoustics and, of course, to be beautiful. At that time, the only fabric on the market where values for energy transmission and reflection were given, was one which had a metallic coating on the exterior and a grey toned dull colour on the interior. The claim was, and probably still is, that these curtains had achieved the highest level of performance possible. We decided to question this and made our own experiments, primarily on silk and a viscose taffeta of different colours with the University of Eindhoven. The experiments confirmed our gut feelings, a double layer of yellow viscose taffeta

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performed just as well as the metallic coated fabric in energy transmittance and much better in energy reflection. And colour was reintroduced as a factor where it had been thus far eliminated. Today’s technology pushes simple materials which have existed for a very long time to perform efficiently in fields other than their speciality. This has the effect of rendering them more and more fragile. This is probably most true in the case of the clay block which has been hollowed out in cells in order to reduce its weight and increase its insulating properties. Thus the clay block looks robust but is actually quite fragile and is always plastered inside and out. This dichotomy it very interesting to me. In my own house in berlin I have pushed these clay bocks into the forefront, they are untreated in the interiors save for the children’s rooms which are painted in bright colours, and on the exterior they are solely coated with an organic elastic membrane which acts like a negligee, revealing more than it is concealing. So I have placed the fragile clay block in a very stress­ful situation and must now wait and see, although with every storm I cannot still a slight sense of panic… I could not agree more. The interesting thing is that, although we were convinced of the importance of close observation we were very surprised at just how much it has enriched the student’s design process and final projects. It has also enriched both their research and their making because of course the ROM process is not a linear one and all three elements feed each other. I also find it very important to look closely for a very long time, even to the point of boredom, not least because it is often at exactly these moments that inspiration finds its way in.

Conversation Series

Interview with Michelle Howard

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+.1.2 Research – Observe – Make + Reflect Interview mit Peter Bauer

„Es geht um die Erweiterung der Grenzen, um sogenannte ,Entwurfsräume‘ in einem Tragsystem.“ Konstruktion versucht Räume in statische Strukturen zu fassen.

Ich finde dass gar nicht so spannend wer anfängt. Sondern: Was lässt man zu, was kommt raus? Wie sehr hört man einander beim entwickeln von Konstruktionen zu? Was entwickelt man gemeinsam? Oder ist es so, dass man im Worst-Case-Fall (für den Ingenieur) eine fixe Vorstellung „nur mehr Umsetzen“ soll? Dann geht’s darum, einen Träger oder eine Stütze möglichst dünn oder schlank zu bauen. Das ist aber nur mehr reine Mathe­­matik, da rechnet man nur mehr etwas aus.

Material. Die Werkstoffe aus denen wir unsere Konstruktionen bauen.

Konstruktion und Gebäudehülle bestehen heute oft aus getrennten Bau­­teilen. Früher waren diese Aufgaben vereint, beispielsweise in einem Haus aus Ziegeln. Wenn man zu viel zerlegt, weiß man oft nicht mehr wo das Ganze liegt. Wer Probleme in viele Teilprobleme zerlegt, kann die dann normalerweise leichter lösen, schafft aber dadurch im Regelfall an anderer Stelle neue. Die Nachhaltigkeitsdebatte, die heute geführt wird, versucht dieses Thema wieder zu fassen. Wenn man die Ingenieurleistung und die Architekturleistung aus einer Stadt entfernt, ist keine Stadt mehr da.

Technologie beschreibt Metho­den um Probleme oder Aufgaben bearbeiten und/ oder lösen zu können.

Jedes Projekt beginnt von neuen. Aber er schafft auch Wissen, dass in die nächsten Projekte einfließt. Damit werden die Möglichkeiten, die man am Projektstart hat, erweitert. Was man „Gottseidank“ nicht finden kann, ist eine perfekte Lösung. Die müsste man ja sonst immer bauen.

Was ist dein „heißestes Eisen“, das sich aus deinen aktuellen Beobachtungen und Aufzeichnungen ergeben hat?

Es stellt sich die Frage der Auswahl. Was wird Untersucht, was wird vari­iert, parametrisiert? „Alles“ zu parametrisieren führt zu keinem Lösungsansatz. Es stellt sich also das Problem der Vorauswahl. Je mehr Aspekte in die Lösung integriert werden sollen, desto besser müssen die Bewertungskriterien werden. Es war sehr lange ein Zugang zu Tragwerken, sie so zu bauen, dass sie berechenbar waren. Den Dreigelenkbogen oder den Vierendeel-Träger hat man deswegen eingeführt, weil man sie rechnen konnte, nicht weil es so genial ist. (…) Die Strategien und Methoden, die ich meine, liefern Lösungen für überraschende Tragwerke und das sind nicht jene, die wir üblicherweise bauen…“

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Nur genaue Beobachtung ermöglicht eine seriöse Analyse.

Conversation Series

In jedem Projekt steckt ein kleines Experiment, wir bauen schließlich Prototypen. Das gewagte Experiment hat dann einen ungewissen Ausgang, wobei das Versagen der Konstruktion als mögliches Ergebnis üblicherweise nicht akzeptiert wird. Das bedeutet, dass solche Experimente – in Computern – simuliert werden müssen. Allerdings gibt’s bei jedem Hinschauen auch einen Bereich, den wir nicht sehen. Es stellt sich also die spannende Frage des Blickfeldes. Wieviel schneide ich bei der Analyse von meiner Umwelt weg? Man wird immer Dinge entdecken, die man besser machen kann.

Interview mit Peter Bauer

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+.1.3 Research – Observe – Make + Reflect Interview mit Helmut Hempel

Was ist Konstruktion?

Mich haben zum einen die Konstruktivisten wie Tatlin und mit Ihnen die Wchutemas, die Architekturschule in Moskau, fasziniert. Hier würde ich persönlich den Begriff einmal ansetzen, wenn man von historischen Konstruktionsmethoden, wie der Gotik u. a. einmal absieht und mit dem 20. Jahrhundert beginnt. Konstruktion ist nicht einfach Machwerk! Aus­gedrückt wurden mit ihr Utopien: in den Himmel bauen, Häuser und Wohnungen auf Ballonen zu hängen und davon schweben zu lassen. Formal dagegen war der Dekonstruktivismus der späten 70er Jahre. Trotzdem, der Begriff Dekonstruktion hat einen Rückhalt und Zusammenhang mit der Philosophie. Übernommen vom französischen Philosophen Derrida, der aber mit diesem Begriff, bezogen auf Texte und Grammatik, anderes meinte: ein wirkliches Verständnis für Texte erlangt man nur durch deren Dekonstruktion. Dies sollte auf Architektur eigentlich über­ tragen werden.

Welche „Aufzeichnungs­ verfahren“ verwendest du in deiner Lehre /Arbeit?

Im Räumlichen verwende ich dazu die Notation, ein Festhalteverfahren, das versucht, räumliche Bedingungen aufzuzeigen. Es bezieht Raum und Verhalten wechselweise mit ein und versucht dies darzustellen, zu notieren. Das Notationsergebnis kann als räumliche Partitur bezeichnet

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werden, wie sie in vielen Disziplinen verwendet wird, vergleichbar einer Choreographie. Der Begriff, der sich auf den Raum bezieht, vgl. Chorraum, kommt aus dem Griechischen: choreuein. Davon abgeleitet u. a. die Choreutik, der Lehre von Bewegungen im Raum. Partituren und Choreographien sind demnach textliche, zeichnerische oder mediale Darstellungen von räumlich gebundenen Bewegungen oder Handlungen, auch vergleichbar mit einem Regiebuch. Mittels Verknüpfung chronologischer, zeitgleicher Ereignisse mit aufeinander folgenden also diachronischen, kann räumliches mit zeitlichem Geschehen in Relation gesetzt werden. Was ist ein Architektur-­ Experiment?

Wir sind gewohnt, Räume nach erlernten, sozial bestimmten, normierten oder gewohnten Verhaltensmustern unhinterfragt zu nutzen: automatisiert. Räumliche Experimente helfen (siehe: H. Hempel, Raum-Spiel-Modelle, Wien 1979), einen solchen räumlich, schematisch ablaufenden Verhaltensvorgang zu deautomatisieren: Vor einer Türe stehend lautet beispielsweise die Aufgabestellung an die Teilnehmer eines Experimentes: jeder soll für sich den Platz suchen und einnehmen, an dem er sich „Innen“, im Raum, fühlt. Diese Fragestellung ist für eine Architektur, die mit Quadratmetern und Normtüren arbeitet kein Thema. Öffnet man die Normtüren und tritt man einen Schritt weiter, ist man drinnen. Auf der Ebene des Verhaltens ist dies aber ein zeitlich-räumlicher Vorgang. Mit dem vorher nicht vorstell­ baren Ergebnis, dass in Folge jeder der z. B. 20 Teilnehmer einen anderen und unterschiedlichen Standpunkt wählt und einnimmt. Veranschaulicht wird mit diesem Experiment, das mit der Türe ein räum­ licher gedehnter Übergangsbereich eröffnet wird, der ebenso zeitlich gedehnt differenzierte Stadien der Annäherung verbirgt.

Die Essenz unseres Tuns ist das Produzieren. Nur das Realisieren gibt eine direkte Resonanz in CMT (Konstruktion, Material, Technologie).

Mein Wunsch war schon seit meiner Kindheit: Häuser zu bauen. Nach meinem Studium ich hatte die Möglichkeit, neben meiner selbständigen Tätigkeit als Architekt, mit Akademieprofessor Herbert Muck, als sein Assistent, gleichzeitig auch theoretisch zu arbeiten. Muck war Jesuit, ausgebildeter Theologe, Philosoph und Kunstwissenschaftler. Im Zuge dieser Zusammenarbeit mit Muck konnte u. a. in der Akademiereihe, hg. von Gustav Peichl, das Buch: Herbert Muck, Der Raum, Wien 1986, verlegt werden (Anm.: Christian Fröhlich: Mein wichtigstes Buch für mein Studium). Am Institut für Kirchenbau und sakrale Kunst an dieser Akademie, konnte von uns beiden, aufgrund Nationalitäten- und Konfessionsvielfalt der Hörer, auch in einer neuen Weise unterrichtet werden: Kirchenbau als komplexeste Bauaufgabe der Architektur – behandelt mit den vielfältigsten kulturellen und kunstgeschichtlichen Hintergründen, eingebunden in geistes- und humanwissenschaftliche Zusammenhänge; Architektur als interdisziplinärer Gegenstand, vermittelt über Schlüsselstellen der Philosophie, Soziologie, Psychologie usw.

Was ist dein „heißestes Eisen“, das sich aus deinen aktuellen Beobachtungen und Aufzeichnungen ergeben hat?

Mit einem Vertreter der Energiewirtschaft bin ich im Gespräch, ein Mikro­algenkraftwerk zu errichten. Mikroalgen stellen dabei einen biologischen Rohstoff dar, aus dem Öl, und auch in Folge Kerosin als Flugzeugtreibstoff her­gestellt werden kann. Bauliche Voraussetzungen sind dabei zu, in denen Mikroalgen sich entwickeln und sehr rasch wachsen, um dann als natürlicher und nachhaltiger Rohstoff verwertet zu werden. Dabei wird im Zwischenraum von Stegplatten ein Wasserkreislauf geführt, in dem die Algen aufgrund der Licht- und auch einer CO2-Zufuhr schnell und auch sichtbar wachsen. Solarenergienutzung hat mich immer begeistert und meine Projekte geformt.

Conversation Series

Interview mit Helmut Hempel

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+.1.4 Research – Observe – Make + Reflect Interview mit Jochen Käferhaus

Was ist Material?

Die Bauphysik will wissen: wo sind die Grenzen der Einsatzfähigkeit eines Materials. Wir fragen uns: wie verhält sich ein Material und ist es der ­Haustechnik „gefügig“? Ob ein Material schön ist, stellt sich mir nicht, son­dern ob es anwendbar ist oder nicht. Wir verwenden neue Materialien, um diese auszuprobieren. Dabei paart sich meine Neugierde mit meiner Lernbereitschaft. Ich bin dabei weniger derjenige, der weiß, wie es geht, sondern jener, der immer ausprobieren möchte. Prinzipiell muss alles hinterfragt werden. „Trampelpfade“ sind immer schlecht.

Was ist ein Medium?

Licht, zum Leben. Luft, zum Atmen. Wasser zum Transportieren / Kühlen.

Was ist Technologie?

Technologie ist immer mit Einschränkungen verbunden, da die Menschen, die sie benutzen, diese nicht beherrschen und sie meist zu kompliziert ist. Deshalb lautet unser Ansatz bei „elementarer“ Technologie in Bauwerken – also: Heizung, Lüftung, Klima, Wasser – diese Gewerke so einfach wie möglich auszuführen. Ich warne immer vor „technoiden“ Systemen und bevorzuge einfache, kybernetische Systeme, wie ein Thermostatventil zum Beispiel. Dieses Ventil ist der Inbegriff einer intelligenten, einfachen Technologie: ein selbstregelndes, kybernetisches System.

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„Die Grundlage für jedes Projekt ruht in der Auseinandersetzung mit diversen Hintergründen einer Entwurfs­ aufgabe.“ Stimmt das?

Die „Wichtung“ dieser Begriffe ist wesentlich. Dabei ist es eine Frage des Gespürs und der Intuition sich dieser zu nähern. Es wird uns in einem Projekt nicht gelingen alles gleich „wichtig“ zu nehmen. Das eine tritt in den Vordergrund, das andere in den Hintergrund. Substituieren – im Sinne von „weglassen“ – würde ich aber keinen dieser Begriffe.

Ist Forschung essenziell?

Wir in unserer Planungsgruppe sind deswegen so „up to Date“ und erfolgreich, weil wir ganz früh bei den Entwicklungen dabei sind und diese dann auch entsprechend früh einsetzen können. Forschung ist eine Notwendigkeit für die Abschätzung von Potenzialen in der Haustechnik und allen nachhaltigen Technologien.

Dein heißestes Eisen in der Forschung?

Mittelpunkt meiner Denkansätze ist immer der Mensch und Fragen, wie: Was ist für den Menschen komfortabel…? Sehr wenig. Frische Luft und Strahlungsheizung. Das System haben wir entwickelt: Für reine Strahlungsheizung werden zwei Röhrchen linienförmig in der Außenwand eingeputzt. Das sind zwei Kupferleitungen, durch die heißes Wasser läuft. Dieses erwärmt nach dem „Coanda-Effekt“ (Anm.: ein Flüssigkeitsstrahl folgt der Oberfläche) die ganze Wand und strahlt in den Raum hinein. Das System transportiert keinen Staub, es erzeugt Behaglichkeit und die Hüllfläche ist warm. Das ist so einfach, dass es schon die Römer mit ihren Hypokausten gemacht, damit höchsten Komfort erreicht und Bauschäden vermieden haben. Dieses System habe ich auch hier in unserer Akademie am Schillerplatz eingebaut: im xhibit, in der Gemäldegalerie und im Kellerdepot.

Wie passt das zu Matthias Schülers Ansatz: Gib den Menschen einen Luftzug und sie ertragen nahezu jedes Klima.

Schüler spricht dabei die körpereigene „Klimaanlage“ an: das Schwitzen. Diese kann nur dann aktiviert werden, wenn es einen Luftzug gibt, der mir mein „alpha a“ (Anmerkung: Wärmeübergangskoeffizient an einer Oberfläche) erhöht und so die Feuchtigkeit, die ich auf der Haut habe, verduns­ ten lässt, um dann den Kühleffekt durch Verdunstung zu erreichen. Du brauchst also in gewissen Klimazonen, einen Luftzug, der dir deine körpereigene, adiabate Kühlung im Gang setzt. In unserem Klima wird Zugluft als etwas Unangenehmes empfunden. Es gibt zwei Körperteile, die dabei extrem empfindlich sind: der Nacken und die Fesseln. Wenn diese beiden geschützt sind, wirst du Zug nicht so spüren. Für den Komfort eines Menschen ist die Strahlungsheizung nachweislich das Elementare. Der Mensch hat ja nur einen sehr kleinen Bereich der Körpertemperatur, den er selbst regulieren muss, d.h. 37° C plus / minus 3– 4° C. Wenn du bei 35°C bist du ebenso tot, wie bei 41° C. Das Fieber ist eine Art Selbstschutz. Der Mensch braucht trockene, kühle Luft, um seine Körperkerntemperatur leichter regulieren zu können. Die Industrie der Luftbefeuchter zum Beispiel will uns genau das Gegenteil erzählen. Wir fühlen uns aber an einem sonnigen, trockenen, kalten Wintertag sehr wohl und gesunden über 1000 m Seehöhe auf dem „Zauberberg“, weil dort trockene Luft herrscht, während wir es im feuchten Dschungel nicht aushalten. Der Mensch ist physiologisch seit er existiert, auf Strahlungsheizung konditioniert und kommt daher mit einer konvektiven Heizung überhaupt nicht klar. Er hat über 200 Temperatursensoren auf der Haut und kann mit warmer, eingeatmeter Luft zur Regulierung seiner Körperkerntemperatur überhaupt nichts anfangen.

Conversation Series

Interview mit Jochen Käferhaus

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+.1.4 Research – Observe – Make + Reflect Interview mit Günther Dreger und Benjamin Frass



Was ist Material?

Günther Dreger: Material ist sexy – gleichzeitig Fluch und Segen. Material kann dich wirklich in die Hölle bringen, aber es kann dir auch ein Feld aufmachen, das du vorher nicht bedacht hast. Benjamin Frass: Insofern würde ich noch einmal genauer formulieren: Nicht das Material kann dich in Himmel und Hölle bringen, sondern du kannst das Material in Himmel und Hölle bringen, oder? Dreger: Ja, obwohl, das ist ein Wechselspiel. Das Material macht ja nichts für mich. Es ist meine Entscheidung welches Material ich verwende.

Verstehe ich das richtig: Material ist da, um bearbeitet zu werden?

Dreger: Ja, schon. Material an sich ist für mich ein abstrakter Begriff. Ich sehe Material auch immer in einer Form, das muss ich zugeben. Ich bin durch Formen geprägt. Auch wenn ein Betonwürfel vor mir steht, hat er zunächst eine Form und dann ist da eine Oberfläche und die ganzen Parameter: haptische Eigenschaften, Gewicht, Temperatur, usw…

„Die Grundlage für jedes Projekt ruht in der Auseinandersetzung mit diversen Hintergründen einer Entwurfs­ aufgabe.“ Stimmt das?

Frass: Was mir bei den Begriffen fehlt, ist die Intuition der ArchitektInnen, die, wenn nötig noch einmal etwas aus der Bauch-Magen-Gegend abrufen, das auch gegen alles Genannte wirken kann. Dreger: Aber die Intuition der ArchitektInnen ist doch dann die Reaktion auf die genannten Begriffe, die sozusagen objektiv sind. Oder sage ich: Ich bin Architekt und darf subjektiv starten? Frass: Mir klingt die These zu technisch, obwohl: Das Hinterfragen von Hintergründen ist sicher nie falsch. Studierende können sich in ihren Projekten manchmal in diese Hintergründe geradezu „verrennen“. Das liefert vielleicht ein katastrophales Endergebnis im Sinne der gestellten Aufgabe. Der eine vertiefend behandelte Schwerpunkt kann jedoch zu einem ungemein spannenden Resultat führen. Frass: Das können wir direkt durch das Erlebnis mit einem Brückenmodell bestätigen: Wir haben eine diffizile englische Eisenbahnbrücke aus dem 19. Jahrhundert als Modell nachgebaut. Im Laufe der Nacht haben wir die Brücke immer mehr dekonstruiert, sodass am Ende eine total lebendige Struktur herauskam, mit einem ebenbürtigen Tragverhalten. Es ist richtig vom Kopf in die Finger übergegangen (die ich mir dabei auch schön verbrannt habe): Wie funktioniert die Ableitung der Kräfte? Wo sind die Zugstäbe? Wo sind die Seile, die die Kräfte auf die Seiten leiten? Warum kann die Brücke am Rand dünner sein, als in der Mitte? Darauf habe ich beim CMT-Projekt „Landscape Una[bridge]d“ wieder Lust bekommen und dafür sind das Modellbauen und das Beobachten ganz wichtig.

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Welche „Aufzeichnungs­ verfahren“ verwendest du in deiner Lehre  / Arbeit?

Frass: Wir haben unzählige Tabellen für den Lasercutter, die für Materia­ lien geführt werden, um Einstellungen zu optimieren: Wie tief will ich in das Material eindringen? Schneide ich es? Graviere ich es?

Sammelt Ihr diese Werte?

Dreger: Nein, die Studierenden haben begonnen, Werte an die Wand zu schreiben und immer wieder wurde diese Liste editiert. Dabei gibt es auch total konträre Einstellungen für ein- und dasselbe Material. Alles dient offensichtlich der gleichen Aktion: nämlich ein Material zu bearbeiten. Die Methoden und Ergebnisse sind mannigfaltig. Unsere vielen Modelle, die über die Jahre entstehen sind auch Ergebnisse von Aufzeichnungsverfahren und Versuchseinrichtungen. Es sind Objekte, die Erfahrungen herzeigen, die während der Produktion gemacht wurden. Diese werden von uns archiviert und als Fallbeispiele herangezogen.

Die Essenz unseres Tuns ist das Produzieren. Nur das Realisieren gibt eine direkte Resonanz in CMT.

Frass: Wenn man das aktuelle Beispiel der Erstsemester zum Thema „Holz“ nimmt (Anm.: Wintersemester 2013) wird die Bedeutung des Produzierens (make) deutlich: Viele haben gedacht, sie arbeiten die nächsten fünf Jahre am Zeichentisch und mit dem Computer. Dass sie jetzt aber gleich einmal Hand anlegen sollen und sich Gedanken machen müssen, wie aus rohen, sägerauen, verzogenen Holzbrettern ein kleines Möbel wird, war für die Klasse offensichtlich überraschend. Dabei haben sie alleine durch das Beobachten der Objekte ihrer KollegInnen schon so viel erfahren, dass sie ganz andere Wege eingeschlagen haben. Da ist schon so viel am Anfang passiert, durch diesen ersten Schritt in die Werkstatt und durch die Erzählungen, die sie mitbekommen haben. In der Folge passiert ein Hin und Her zwischen Zeichnungen und Modellen aus leichten Materialien, deren Geometrie und Form man schnell im Studio testet und dann, wenn man sich sicher ist, geht man in die Werkstatt und probiert das mit seinem Holz aus. Und dann bemerkt man: Hoppla, mein Holz ist ja zehnmal so hart, wie das des anderen. Wie muss ich darauf reagieren? Also, zurück zur These: Ja, das partizipative „Tun“ ist essenziell.

Conversation Series

Interview mit Günther Dreger und Benedikt Frass

35

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Elemental Interactivity

Revealing and reactivating the interdependency between ourselves, our climate and our omnipresent technological environment is at the core of the following projects. When we can perceive how our spatial climates function and thus independently adjust them, could we produce a system of sustainable climate control which is more sympathetic to architectural space and the people who use it?

Jochen Käferhaus ROM – Vorsprung durch Technik

Seit den 1970er-Jahren erfordert die Haustechnik viel technischen und finanziellen Aufwand, um einen Komfort zu schaffen, den man früher mit natürlichen Methoden einfacher und energiesparender erreicht hat. Nimmt man z. B. den Komfort in Büros, ist zu erkennen, dass seit der Einführung der Klimatisierung von Büroräumen in Verbindung mit Stahl-Glas-­ Gebäuden – insbesondere in Nordamerika – das sogenannte SBS (Sick Building Syndrome) sehr stark zugenommen hat. SBS ist ein Krankheitsbild, das häufig in Büros mit Klimaanlagen auftritt. Deren Nutzer erkranken aufgrund von Keimen, die durch unsaubere, ungewartete Klimaanlagen verteilt werden. Diese Keime und Bakterien bilden sich insbesondere in feuchten, verstaubten und meist auch verschimmelten Luftkanälen und werden durch die Lüftung in Büroräume geblasen, meist mit unangenehmem Zug und Geräuschen. Eine Reduktion dieser Belastung für Nutzer der Räume ist nur mit großem Aufwand möglich, wie Durchputzen der Lüftungskanäle, Wechseln der Filter oder sogar Auswechseln der zentralen Klima­anlagen, wenn man die Quelle der pathogenen Keime nicht findet. Auch hierzulande ist in Büros die krankheitsbedingte Ausfallquote aus den genannten Gründen hoch. So sei an den Fall des Mozarteums in Salzburg in den 1990er-Jahren erinnert, wo sogar ein Beteiligter an den Folgen dieser Bakterien gestorben ist. Wenn man in historischen Bauten nach alter Haustechnik forscht, stößt man immer wieder auf ähnliche grundsätzliche physikalische Phänomene, die dem Menschen seit der Römerzeit – und früher – geholfen haben, mit einem minimalen technischen Aufwand ein Maximum an Komfort zu erreichen. Zu diesen bekannten Phänomenen gehört die Strahlungsheizung mit warmen Wänden. Sie wurde von den Römern als „Hypokaustenheizung“ entwickelt. Obwohl Innenräume bauphysikalisch in sehr komplexen Zusammenhängen mit hoher Feuchtigkeit und Wärme belastet waren, hat man durch die Umlenkung der Heizungsabgase in einer doppelwandigen Boden- bzw. Außenwandschale warme Bauteile in Verbindung mit reiner Strahlungsheizung geschaffen, sodass es in dieser Zeit niemals von Bauschäden zu berichten gab. Offene Kamine an Kochstellen waren als „Rauchkuchl“ ausgebildet, die mit den Kaminabgasen auch Raumluft durch den Kamin abführten und dadurch für eine gesunde, hygienische Luftqualität im Raum sorgten. Im Zusammenspiel mit undichten Fensterfugen wurde aus Räumen Rauch, Geruch und Feuchtigkeit abgeleitet. Erst zu Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts fing man an, den Strahlungsofen, der sich zuvor in Ecken vor Innenmauern befand, an Außenmauern zu stellen. Den Ofen, früher körperparalleler Strahlungskörper, baute man breiter und niedriger und im Laufe der Zeit fand er seinen Platz als Konvektor unter dem Fenster. Damit mutierte die 38

Book 1

Nozzles Fluorescent Lamps

Window with solar protective coating

Fan coil

intelligente, reine Strahlungsheizung des Kachelofens zu einer ungesunden, konvektiven „Dreckschleuder“, die Wärme und Staub ausschließlich über die Luft transportiert. Der Weg des Staubes lässt sich durch diese falsche Beheizung in Räumen gut ablesen: Die Vorhänge werden ebenso schwarz wie die Wände – ganz abgesehen von dem Unbehagen, das durch warme, konvergierende Luft bei Nutzern ausgelöst wird. Der Mensch kann mit warmer Luft nur sehr schwierig und bedingt seine Körperkerntemperatur regulieren und die Transpiration aktivieren. Er trägt Temperatursensoren auf der Haut, die zwar auf Strahlungswärme reagieren. Doch da sie nicht in den Atmungsorganen liegen, braucht der Mensch trockene, kühle Luft mit Strahlungsheizung, wenn er durch Schwitzen in Verbindung mit adiabater Kühlung den Temperaturhaushalt seines Körpers und damit die Körperkerntemperatur regulieren will. Dabei ist es durch Beobachtung der Heizungstechnik, Messung und Forschung so einfach, eine gut funktionierende Strahlungsheizung zu entwickeln. Die „Temperierung“ oder „Bauteilheizung“, die all die genannten Vorteile einer reinen Strahlungsheizung mit warmen Hüllflächen bzw. warmen Außenwänden bietet, ist der einfachste und kostengünstigste Weg, gesunde Wärme im Raum ohne Bauschäden zu erreichen. So ermöglicht ein ganz einfaches Heizungskupferröhrchen eine komfortable Strahlungsheizung mit warmen Wänden. Ähnlich einer Elektroleitung wird es in ca. 10 cm Höhe in die kalte Außenwand eingestemmt, mit einem Vorlauf parallel zum Boden, einem Rücklauf in ca. 90 cm Höhe unter dem Fensterbrett und mit 1 cm Putz überdeckt. Damit erreicht man mit sehr wenig Material- und Energieeinsatz sowie mit kleinen Wassermengen warme Außenwände, wie es seit rund 30 Jahren für ein komfortables, energiesparendes und schadenspräventives Raumklima vorgenommen wurde, z. B. in der Gemäldegalerie der Akademie der bildenden Künste in Wien. Verglichen mit einer konvektiven Heizkörperheizung spart dieses Heizsystem mindestens 20 Prozent Energie, da es wenig bis keine Lüftungswärmeverluste gibt. Elemental Interactivity

Abb. 1 (links) Barbara Weber, WU climatic masures in repeatable units Abb. 2 (rechts) Hypokaustenheizung in Pompeji

ROM – Vorsprung durch Technik

39

Windtürme Aus dem persischen und arabischen Raum haben wir die adiabate Kühlung durch feuchte Tonkrüge kennengelernt. Auch das römische Atriumhaus mit dem Zierbecken in der Mitte des Hofes kühlte ebenso adiabat wie das historische Lehmhaus der Ägypter. Außerdem gehört die Schachtlüftung persischer Windtürme, oft verbunden mit Verdunstungskühlung über Kellerräume oder über Wasserbecken im Haus, zur vorbildlichen Haustechnik, die den Komfort in ariden Gegenden mit einfachsten Mitteln merklich gesteigert hat. Abb. 4 Natürliche Lüftungen Ausgehend von England verbreitete sich um 1870 die „natürliche Lüftung“ als eine Art Bau-Mode in ganz Europa. In Helsinki (Parlament), Wien (Hofburg) bis nach Berlin (Reichstag) nutzte man große „Erdwärmetauscher“ als geziegelte, mannshohe Gänge in Kellerräumen, die durch die Gänge durch den Erdkörper geführt wurden, zur Versorgung von Gebäuden mit konditionierter Außenluft. Sieht man sich natürliche Lüftungen an, so fallen zwei prinzipielle Aus­ prägungen auf: das sogenannte natürliche Lüftungssystem und die Fugenlüftung bei Fenstern. Einführung der natürlichen Lüftung in der Hofburg, Wien Die folgenden Schemata und Details zeigen das reaktivierte System der natürlichen Lüftung im Corps de Logis in der Hofburg in Wien. Das Gebäu­ de wurde aus dem Burggarten über riesige Tore und begehbare, geziegelte Gänge in Verbindung mit vertikalen Steigschächten sommers wie winters mit frischer und kühler Luft mittels Schachtlüftung und Auftrieb versorgt. Nach intensiver Beobachtung, Erforschung, Erfassung und Messung aller Schächte und des gesamten natürlichen Lüftungssystems im Rahmen des Luftbrunnens erfolgte durch den Autor die Reaktivierung der natür­ lichen Lüftung in der Hofburg. Die Reaktivierung der natürlichen Lüftung im Corps de Logis des Völkerkundemuseums in der Hofburg zeigt, dass sogar nach 100 Jahren die Einfachheit und die Effektivität der Technologie unschlagbar sind: Über einen sehr großen Lufteinlass („Bronchien“) im nahe gelegenen Burggarten wird 40

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Abb. 3 (links) Persische Windtürme in Yazd – Exkursion CMT Abb. 4 (rechts) Blick auf die Temperierung während der Sanierungsarbeiten der Bibliothek des Klosters Einsiedeln, Schweiz

durch ein Tunnellabyrinth im Kellergeschoss Außenluft angesaugt. Diese dämpft aufgrund baulicher Gegebenheiten der Ziegelsteine die Temperaturspitzen und Feuchte der Außenluft. Vom Kellergeschoss wird die Luft durch große vertikale Schächte mittels Schachtlüftung in die Schauräume gebracht, wo sie an der gegenüberliegenden Seite des Schauraumes durch einen vertikalen Abluftkanal wiederum über den physikalischen Auftrieb über das Dach geführt wird. Falls der natürliche Auftrieb aufgrund der Temperaturdifferenz nicht reicht, hilft ein historischer amerikanischer Blackman-Ventilator, diese gleichmäßige Luftbewegung durch das gesamte Gebäude aufrechtzuerhalten. Einführung der natürlichen Lüftung in Schloss Schönbrunn, Wien Die Forschung in der Hofburg war die Voraussetzung für die Einführung der natürlichen Lüftung im Wiener Schloss Schönbrunn, als dort ein historischer geziegelter unterirdischer Gang von ca. 300 m Länge gefunden wurde. Dafür wurde zunächst eine dynamische Simulation erstellt, um dann mit genauen Messungen der Realität deren Wahrheitsgehalt näher zu belegen bzw. kritisch zu beleuchten und zu würdigen. Erstaunlicherweise gab es eine Deckungsgleichheit zwischen den theoretischen Simulationsergebnissen und der Realität. Im Sommer konnte man Abb. 5 (oben) Blick vom Burggarten auf die großen Einlassflügel der natürlichen Lüftung der Hofburg Abb. 6 (unten) Grundriss des Erdwärmetauschers unter der Hofburg, Wien

Elemental Interactivity

ROM – Vorsprung durch Technik

41

rund 65 kW Kälteenergie und im Winter rund 56 kW Wärmeenergie aus dem Erdkanal „ernten“. In Schloss Schönbrunn hatte eine relativ hohe Luftwechselzahl aufgrund von Undichtheiten in der Hülle und willkürliches Öffnen von Fenstern durch Personal ein sehr unstabiles Mikroklima in den Schauräumen mit Schäden insbesondere auch an den Vieux-Lacque-­ Tafeln zur Folge. Auch Staubbelastungen von außen haben dem Interieur des Schlosses geschadet. Um diesen unkontrollierten Luftwechsel auf ein kontrolliertes Niveau zu bringen, wurden folgende Schritte vorgeschlagen und umgesetzt: – Tracergasanalysen, um den Luftwechsel und die Undichtheiten im Schloss nachvollziehen zu können – Dichtheitsmessung der bestehenden Kastenfenster – Abdichten der inneren Flügel der Kastenfenster – Reaktivierung der bestehenden Schächte der Schauräume – Einbau von Brandschutzklappen und Ventilatoren in den historischen Schächten, um den Auftriebseffekt zu kontrollieren und gegebenenfalls zu verstärken bzw. auszuschließen – Schaffung eines Luftbrunnens für die Luftansaugung durch Nutzung des historischen Gangsystems von ca. 200 m Länge Es sollte im Winter tagsüber ein einfacher Luftwechsel möglich sein, der nachts auf einen halben Luftwechsel reduziert werden kann. Im Sommer ist es sinnvoll, das Gebäude per Außenluftzufuhr über den Erdwärme­ tauscher etwas vorzukühlen, also tagsüber einen einfachen Luftwechsel und nachts einen zweifachen Luftwechsel durch die historischen Räume zu leiten.  Über einen Erdwärmetauscher wird Außenluft angesaugt. Diese verliert ihre Extremzustände durch den Erdwärmetauscher oder Luftbrunnen, der Klimaspitzen puffert. In den Schauräumen wird über Quellluftgitter Außen­

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Abb. 7/8/9 (unten)  Schemata zur natürlichen Lüftung in der Hofburg, Wien

luft eingebracht und die Luft über die bestehenden Kamine aufgrund des natürlichen Auftriebs über Dach geführt. In den Kaminen wurden Ventilatoren montiert, die an die ZLT durch Abgreifen der Autorotation melden, wie viel Luft derzeit durch die Kamine nach außen streicht. Sollte mehr Luft gebraucht werden, wird dem Ventilator gerade so viel Strom zugeführt, dass die errechnete Luftmenge gefördert wird; bei unerwünschtem Luftwechsel werden die ebenfalls eingebauten Brandschutzklappen geschlossen. Mit diesen Maßnahmen wurde das Mikroklima in den Schauräumen des Schlosses Schönbrunn signifikant stabilisiert und verbessert. Gründerzeit und Biedermeier Auch der bewusste Einsatz schwerer Baumassen von Jahrhundertwendhäusern in Wien für die nächtliche Vorkühlung des Hauses in drückend heißer Sommerzeit durch „erlösende Nachtkühle“ erklärt sehr schön, warum die Eigentümer dieser Häuser immer in Wohnungen im ersten Stock, der sogenannten Beletage, gelebt haben: Sie waren weit weg vom feuchten Keller und ebenso fern vom Dachbereich, der im Sommer warm und im Winter kalt war. Die Beletage hatte aufgrund der großen Baumassen den Vorteil, dass das Klima in diesen Wohnungen das ganze Jahr über sehr konstant und angenehm war. Intelligent waren außerdem die Kastenfenster, und das aus mehreren Gründen: Einerseits bestehen sie bekannterweise aus zwei Fensterebenen, die sehr gut gegen Zugluft, thermische Verluste und Schall schützen. Andererseits ist die Öffnungsrichtung der Fensterflügel stets unterschiedlich. Bei den Biedermeierfenstern gingen die äußeren Flügel nach außen auf. Das hatte den großen Vorteil, dass diese Fenster bei äußerem Winddruck immer dichter wurden, je stärker der Wind gegen das Fenster drückte. Wenn wir grob die Formen der Nutzung der Sonnenenergie in passive und aktive Nutzung unterscheiden, so schmunzeln wir bei dem Gedanken, dass viele Wienerwaldvillen, ebenfalls aus der Jahrhundertwende, schon vor

Elemental Interactivity

ROM – Vorsprung durch Technik

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Jahren unbeheizte, verglaste Veranden vor den Wohnzimmern hatten, die als Wärmefallen oder „Luftkollektoren“ im Winter jede Kilowattstunde Wärme durch Sonnenstrahlen im Haus speicherten. Die Nutzer, geschult durch die Erziehung der Eltern, die dort schon wohnten und dies vorlebten, öffneten jedes Mal die Tür vom Glashaus zum Wohnzimmer, wenn im Winter das Glashaus wärmer war als das Wohnzimmer – wohlgemerkt, gewärmt nur durch die Sonne. Sinnvolle Beschattung So gab es früher viel häufiger außen liegende „Balken“, also Klappläden, die meist noch einzeln drehbare und ausstellbare Holzlamellen in der Füllung der Läden hatten. Oft wurden diese Läden im Winter durch im Keller aufbewahrte „Winterflügel“ ausgetauscht, die die thermische Qualität der Fenster im Winter merklich steigerten. Fensterläden brauchte man zu dieser Jahreszeit nicht, da die Sonne eine willkommene Wärme- und Lichtspenderin war. Besser kann man Sonnenlicht nicht lenken oder sich davor schützen, denn sinnvollerweise waren diese Läden immer außen an den Fenstern montiert. Wie oft erlebt man heutzutage in neu errichteten Bürobauten, dass Beschattungen innen montiert oder – schlimmer noch – so gedankenlos angebracht werden, dass sie bei Nutzung das Büro abdunkeln. Das wiederum macht Kunstlicht notwendig, wodurch Strom verbraucht und Abwärme produziert wird, die wiederum weggekühlt werden muss. Ähnlich war es mit den früheren, intelligent konstruierten Kastenfenstern, die laut intensiver Forschung auf diesem Gebiet auch im historischen Bereich (Schloss Schönbrunn) meist einen Fugendurchlass von 1 hatten, d. h. diese Fenster boten immer einen einfachen Luftwechsel pro Stunde. Diese definierten Undichtigkeiten waren notwendig, um die nötige Luft­ hygiene mit abgesenkter Raumfeuchtigkeit zu gewährleisten – wurde doch in diesen Räumen gelebt, gewaschen, gekocht und wurden teilweise auch offene Feuerstellen benutzt (sogenannte Rauchkuchln). Aufgrund der „eingebauten“ Undichtheit der historischen Kastenfenster gab es in jener Zeit wenig bis gar keine Schimmelschäden in den Wohnungen, obwohl oft eine hohe Luftfeuchtigkeit in den Räumen herrschte. Die kontinuierliche Lüftung über undichte Fugen der Kastenfenster trocknete die kalten Wand­ oberflächen innen ab bzw. senkte die relative Feuchte im Raum, wenn es draußen trockener war. Bei allem Respekt vor dieser gewollten Undichtheit wollen wir aber auch nicht verhehlen, dass wir uns heutzutage dichte Fenster wünschen. Intel­ ligente Fenster sollten heutzutage Beschläge bieten, die bei halber Schließung einen definierten Luftwechsel erlauben und bei voller Schließung dichte Fenster gewährleisten. Wenn ein Fenster zu dicht ist Immerhin wurden Fenster aufgrund der dicht schließenden Rahmenkon­ struktionen so dicht, dass die im Inneren der Wohnungen erzeugte Feuchtigkeit nicht mehr natürlich abgelüftet werden konnte. Die Konsequenz war, dass sich in vielen Bereichen, wo diese dichten Fenster eingesetzt wurden, an kalten Außenwänden innen, in Ecken (geometrische Wärmebrücke) oder hinter Schränken Schimmel bildete. In diesen Bereichen wurde aufgrund der zu hohen Luftfeuchtigkeit im Raum verbunden mit schlechter thermischer Qualität der Außenwände der Taupunkt unterschritten. Damit schlug sich die Feuchtigkeit am kalten Bauteil nieder und schuf die Lebensgrundlage für die überall vorhandenen Schimmelsporen. Aufmerksam auf diese zu dichten Fenster wurde man eigentlich erst, als es die ersten Toten gab, da man zu jener Zeit noch mit kleinen, gasbetriebenen Warmwasser44

Book 1

Abb. 10 Biedermeierkastenfenster mit Flügeln, die nach außen öffnen

erzeugern arbeitete, die keinen eigenen Kamin hatten und ihre Abgase in die Küche entließen. Indem Kohlenmonoxyd (CO) giftig und nicht bemerkbar ist und dieses Schadgas nicht durch undichte Fugen nach außen abgelüftet wurde, hatte dies letale Folgen. Die weitere Entwicklung im Fensterbau war wieder einmal symptomatisch für unser Denken: Man versuchte in den 1980er- und 1990er-Jahren, in zu dichte Kunststofffensterrahmen Lüftungsöffnungen zu bohren, um auf diese Weise erst recht wieder undichte Fenster zu erhalten. Die brachten – wie schon erwähnt – bei höherem Windanfall einen hohen Luftwechsel und bei Windstille keinen Luftaustausch zwischen innen und außen. Man hatte wieder, wie so oft, nur an den Symptomen korrigiert, anstatt prinzipielle Verbesserungen durch Forschung, Beobachtung und Umsetzung herbeizuführen.

Abb. 11 Blick auf Fensterläden eines Hauses in Balm, Schweiz, aus dem Jahr 1735

Die Sanierung der Akademie der bildenden Künste, Wien Wendet man nun all diese genannten Forschungsergebnisse und Beobachtungen historischer Techniken auf die Sanierung der Akademie der bildenden Künste in Wien an, zeigt sich, dass dieser Wettbewerb ausnahmsweise auch mithilfe der einfachen nachhaltigen Haustechnik gewonnen werden konnte, die vom Autor zusammen mit den Silberpfeil-Architekten entwickelt wurde. (In der Regel werden Architekturwettbewerbe nur durch „schöne“ Architektur und „bunte Bilder“ und nie durch intelligente, nachhaltige Haustechnik gewonnen.) Im Wettbewerb wurde u. a. gefordert, das Akademiegebäude am Schillerplatz auch in den Sommermonaten ohne eine mechanische Klimatisierung für Nutzer erträglich zu gestalten. Der Haustechnikplaner entwickelte ein System der natürlichen Lüftung über bestehende historische Schächte, die reaktiviert werden. Dieses System nutzt mithilfe der geplanten Nachtlüftung im Rahmen eines zweifachen Luftwechsels über historische Schächte und motorisch zu öffnende Fenster die meist auch im Sommer vorhandeElemental Interactivity

ROM – Vorsprung durch Technik

45

nen Temperaturunterschiede zwischen Tag und Nacht von rund 10° Kelvin aus und kühlt die schweren historischen Baumassen für den nächsten Tag vor. Damit kann die Wärme des folgenden Tages im nachtgekühlten Gebäude absorbiert werden, ohne die Nutzer zu belasten. Zusätzlich wird im Sommer der Innenhof der Akademie, wo die Außenluft angesaugt wird, über ein einzubauendes Rankgerüst, besprüht mit feinen Wasserdüsen, adiabat vorgekühlt. So können die Räume der Akademie sogar an heißen Sommertagen mit leicht vorgekühlter Außenluft über die Schachtlüftung beaufschlagt werden. Gemäldegalerie in der Akademie der bildenden Künste, Wien Bei der Sanierung der Gemäldegalerie in der Akademie der bildenden Künste wurde 2008 ein Heizungs- und Lüftungssystem installiert, das in europäischen Forschungskreisen als State of the Art anerkannt ist. So wird z. B. die notwendige Lüftung der Galerie durch einen einfachen Algorithmus nur dann aktiviert, wenn man sich von außen keine schädigenden Verhältnisse hereinholt. Ferner wird die Lüftung nur sehr selten aktiviert, wenn der CO2 -Gehalt in der Galerie 1.200 ppm übersteigt. Die Außenluftansaugung erfolgt über den vorhandenen historischen unteriridischen Umgang um das Haus, der dazu dient, immer trockene Fundamente zu haben. Über historische Schächte wird dann die konditionierte Außenluft in die Gemäldegalerie eingebracht. Die Heizung der bestehenden Konvektoren wurde ersatzlos demontiert und durch eine Bauteilheizung in den Außenwänden ersetzt, die ein extrem stabiles Raumklima und warme Außenwände ohne die geringste Schimmelgefahr gewährleistet. Die bestehenden eisernen Kastenfenster wurden durch beschichtete Isolierverglasung auf der inneren Ebene und durch beschichtete Einfachverglasung auf der äußeren Ebene so ersetzt, dass von außen absolut nichts zu erkennen ist. In weiterer Folge wurde im Fensterkasten ein Beschattungsbehang eingebaut, der sowohl die Forderungen des seinerzeitigen Rektors nach einem leichten Durchblick nach außen gewährleistete als auch die hohen denkmalschützerischen und restauratorischen Anforderungen von maximal 150 bis 180 lx Tageslichteinfall auf die wertvollen Bilder. Um die durch die Beschattung generierte Wärme im Sommer ordnungsgemäß ablüften zu können, integrierte man in die äußeren Fenster jeweils Abb. 12/ 13 Blick auf die Bauteilheizungen in der Gemäldegalerie und im „exhibit“  Abb. 14 Blick auf die Belüftungsschlitze in den sanierten Metallkastenfenstern der Gemäldegalerie Abb. 15 Blick auf die Gemäldegalerie mit unsichtbarer Heizung

Abb. 16  Rankgerüst im Hof der Akademie für die adiabate Vorkühlung der Außenluft, © Silberpfeil-Architekten

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oben und am Fuß der Fenster „unsichtbar“ einen kleinen schwedischern Schlitzschieber, der zweimal pro Jahr von Hand bedient werden muss. Im Winter wird er geschlossen, um den Fensterkastenraum als Pufferraum zur thermischen Qualitätssteigerung des Fensters zu nutzen. Im Sommer wird dieser Luftraum durch Öffnen der kleinen Schlitzschieber hinterlüftet, um die gesamte Sonnenwärme der Beschattung nach außen abzulüfteten. Genaue Simulationen und Messungen vor der Umbauphase haben nachgewiesen, dass damit im Sommer die innere Scheibenoberflächentemperatur um ca. 10° Kelvin geringer gegenüber den nicht belüfteten Fenstern ist. Dadurch wird der Raum durch externe Lasten weniger aufgeheizt. Wie wurde nun diese Idee des Beobachtens, Forschens und Umsetzens mit den Studierenden an der Akademie der bildenden Künste realisiert? Bei der Projektarbeit im Rahmen der CMT-Studien implementierten die Studierenden bei dem Thema „Beton“ vorbildlich einfachste und nachhaltige Haustechnik in Form von Betonkernaktivierung. Das machte deutlich, wie sinnvoll Beobachtung und Forschung in der Projektarbeit ist und in der Umsetzung integriert werden kann, wie am Beispiel des „energy swinger“ erlernt. Auch das Thema „warme Luft“ bzw. „Abwärme“ wurde von den Studierenden bravourös und in vielen Nuancen nach dem Beobachten und Erforschen umgesetzt. Ähnlich wie auf der 12. Architekturbiennale in Venedig 2010 zusammen mit der Deutschen Bauklimatikgruppe „TransSolar“, lernten begeisterte Studie­rende mit „feuchter Luft“ zu experimentieren sowie mit hygroskopischen Baumaterialien. Sie setzten den kostengünstigen und sehr alten natürlichen Baustoff Lehm mit all seinen Fähigkeiten wie Hygroskopizität und Aufnahme von Gerüchen im Raum ein, um bei der Gebäudenutzung auf einfache Art und Weise höchsten Komfortgewinn zu erlangen. Es war vor allen Dingen die feuchteregulierende Wirkung des Baustoffes Lehm, der große Begeisterung für dieses Material hervorrief. Das Thema „Fenster, Fensterdichtheit“ wurde am Beispiel der Sanierung des ORF-Gebäudes am Küniglberg in Wien nach intensiver Vorarbeit am Objekt mit Thermovisionskamera und Detailzeichnungen durchgearbeitet, diskutiert und für ein kommendes „Architekturleben“ inhaliert und inter­ nalisiert. Erfreulicherweise wurde durch die konstruktive Zusammenarbeit mit den Studierenden im Rahmen der CMT-Studien von dem Studenten Nikola Znaor ein prämiertes intelligentes, nachhaltiges und autarkes Beschattungssystem „Woolshade“ entwickelt. (www.woolshade.com) Diese Erfolge und die Freude an der gemeinsamen Arbeit zeigen, wie man junge Architekten durch historische, einfache, nachhaltige und intelligente Haustechnik motivieren und ihnen durch „Begreifen“ beibringen kann, dass sie nach dem Beobachten und Erforschen Freude an der Erkenntnis bei der Umsetzung ihrer Arbeit haben. Damit sind sie anhaltend motiviert und erhalten wesentliche Kenntnisse für ihr Architekturleben.

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Abb. 17 Eleven Vaults Pavilion, Lucie Najvarova Abb. 18 Exhausted! Nikola Znaor und Omer Pekin Abb. 19 Woolshade von Nikola Znaor Abb. 20 Hygrometer, Eva Herunter und Fabian Puttinger

ROM – Vorsprung durch Technik

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1.1 Elemental Interactivity I Building a Good Climate

Commentary by Mark West These verbs [re. Search – Observe – Make] are actions that are most fulfilled when not separated too far from each other – one feeding the others in a kind of swarm. Inside this swarm, and focusing its collective action, is Imagination. Not wish-fulfilling fantasy, but imagination (an inward imaging) fed by desire yet constrained by the ways of the world. Imagination constrained by technical and social realities creates a kind of pressure – which is a power. This is not linear thinking, and as with any design, there is never an optimum ‘solution’. Its production is always marked by surprise. Mark West is an architect and head of the Centre for Architectural Structures and Technology) at the University of Manitoba (www.umanitoba.ca/cast_building).

Commentary by Merritt Bucholz Introducing big strategies into teaching practice is a bold move, fraught with unpredictable outcomes and aesthetic weakness; students who do not hesitate to grapple with bigger questions are an anathema to the academic context; how could they, who do they think they are? But then, how could they have known any better, or at what point would the necessary knowledge arrive, and what would it destroy? yes indeed the world of constraints, limitations is far more comfortable but here's something new; students work can drive thinking about architecture elsewhere, in particular thinking about form and aesthetics, about architecture not as an individual pursuit and the constant experimentation with oneself, but the sheer capacity and scale of the architectural project, expanding its reach, its dimension directly out into the world of men and women, the world we walk through and exist within. Merritt Bucholz is an architect and head and founding faculty of the School of Architecture at the University of Limerick (www3.ul.ie/architecture).

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Building a good climate Studio description

When we believe in Architecture we believe that it provides us with far more than simply shelter from the elements. Thus when we apply ourselves to the task of providing a good climate we should do so in the broadest sense. “Belief in the significance of architecture is premised on the notion that we are, for better or for worse, different people in different places – and on the conviction that it is architecture’s task to render vivid to us who we might ideally be.” From The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton

Pavilion Project The students were asked to design and make part prototypes of a pavilion to be placed on the Schiller Platz which should raise the public profile of the Academy and correspond to the classical definition of the pavilion while providing a good climate. Pavilion may refer to a free-standing structure sited a short distance from a main residence, whose architecture makes it an object of pleasure. Large or small, there is usually a connection with relaxation and pleasure in its intended use. (From wikipedia)

Fig. 1 Aerial photo showing the academy and its surroundings

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The pavilion should provide a comfortable climate both in winter and in summer and be very easy to maintain. The precise idea of what comfort may be is defined by the student. It will function without any connection whatsoever to the mains either for electricity or for sewage. The pavilion is not a museum and should not expose any objects; it should perform its public function for the academy in purely spatial terms. The shelter must encompass between one and two thousand cubic meters; the shape that this volume encloses is the decision of the student.

Objectives 1. To establish a clear and tangible understanding of the relationship between climate and space. How uplifting is a spectacular space if it is badly lit or ventilated or just too noisy? 2. To establish a closer understanding of the local climate i.e. that of Vienna and of the effects that small changes in climate can have on space and human well-being. 3. To gain a closer relationship to the things we draw and plan by their direct application on site and full scale, thus enlarging our capacity for thought and invention. Programme Requirements 4. To examine the effects of the use of certain scales The shelter should provide at least 60m2 of space of spaces climatically and architecturally e.g. whethwhich can be climatically closed and the provision er an air current is pulled upward through a chimney for a small café for light refreshments without conor flows lightly across a room. nection to the mains (Think of washing and garbage 5. To look closely at materials and their application disposal). Its connection to the academy should be with regards to their effect on the spatial climate, clearly discernible and it should be possible to stage e.g. the use of warm, hard or smooth materials, their events there at all times of the year. capacity for adaptation and adjustment. Studio instructors Michelle Howard, Golmar Kempinger-Khatibi and Gudrun Oswald

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1.1.1 Karlis Berzins Position vs disposition

The Ringstraße is one of the major tourism attraction points in Vienna. The Academy of Fine arts stands between being a monument itself and servicing 21st century education. It creates a juxtaposition when physical form smothers activities within. Archives, libraries, galleries, museums correspond to the content of the Ring, but education related functions are different and should be exposed in another manner than the visual codes of historical monuments. The Ringstraße is a well-oiled financial mechanism, luxury hotels, cafes, bars, restaurants, clubs, creates one of the most expensive axes in Europe. Each function that is situated in this context immediately deals with the same aspects as the academy, pragmatically struggling between facade and interior. The most common way to attract visitors at nighttime is the illumination of facades. Unambitious glowing at night is more telling about relation to other landmark monuments and history of Vienna then content and usage of building itself. I want to be unspecific and to let people walk around and to find their place and comfort. But in the other hand create specificity that attracts people to the pavilion building. I’m looking for a dispositioning from the strict composition of a baroque park, and also from the academy, but in the same time wish to extend both of them.

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1.1.2 Doris Scheicher Moss Pavilion

As Vienna is a big city, there are a lot of negative influences on its climate: traffic noise, particulate matter, exhaust fumes, grunge. Because of the quite high building density you can hardly get a sun lit space in the inner city. Most of the Parks are shaded by buildings, especially in winter when the sun is very low. In this pavilion I want to provide a space, where people can escape from this pollution. It should provide a well-protected microclimate, where one doesn’t have to be afraid of touching surfaces, because they are so dirty. Also the air quality should be improved in terms of oxygen, humidity and harmful substances. A soundproof covering should keep the noise from the streets out. Specific species of moss will be grown in each of the spherical spaces which allow an encounter with the material on multiple planes.

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1.1.3 Dawid Klich Bamboo Pavilion

On the ground in the park in front of the academy there is the outlet of a large air vent for the exhaust of the air from the parking garage situated under much of the park. I wanted both to use this unwanted air to passively heat my new pavilion and to bring to the fore the fact that much of the park is situated over a parking garage. In order to be able to use the warm air in the pavilion it first had to be filtered through a cleaning device. I chose to use bamboo and to transform the whole pavilion into a sort of air-filtering system in that the bamboo tubes are placed side by side in the vertical. The area of the air-exhaust being at the highest point of the lightly undulating floor. The roof is of the same construction as the floor and then gives shelter from the elements and sometimes a light spray of rain to make its way through the filtering bamboo.

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1.1.4 Orit Theuer Activating Schiller

In the centre of the park, in front of the entrance to the Academy is the Schiller-statue. It is a historic bronze statue built in 1875/76 after the design of Johannes Schilling. The statue was unveiled on the site in 1876 and is standing on a pedestal with allegories of genius, poetry, science and patriotism. The Schiller-statue was the first one on a prominent public place that was devoted to an artist. Until then only emperors and generals were represented. In 1900 a memorial for Goethe was erected vis à vis to Schiller on the Opernring. The sketch shows an idea of how to use solar energy to warm up the statue, so that people can enjoy sitting on its steps in comfortable temperatures in the wintertime. The water gets preheated with solar panels before it gets conducted to a heat changer in the inside of the statue. Here the inner statue water circle warms up over the heat changing system. A heat pump increases the temperature of the water if the solar energy does not suffice. The thermo conductivity of the metal allows the warmth to transcend to the environment. When the water has lost its warmth, it returns to the heat changer, where the circuit continues.

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1.1.5 Fabian Liszt Neglige

The negligée seduces the spectator’s eye by creating a play of constantly changing fields of transparency. An appearance between total barrier and dissolution of its own body. Depending on the position it changes its profile from minimal horizontal expansion to a 42m wide and 16m high curtain-like structure. It interrupts the dictatorial spatial arrangement of a representational “Ringstraße”-buildings by breaking the view axis that’s built up between the statues of Goethe and Schiller and the Academy building. At the same time it stages the place in a new way. While approaching it the pavilion starts to interact with the visitor long before one enters the building.

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1.1.6 Matiss Kaufmannis Stacked Pavilion

Despite the fact that many subjects are studied within one building, the academic framework of the Academy is not interconnected. The pavilion can provide a physical and social platform for the discussion between all of the students. The structure mainly consists of elevated surface, which is connected to the ground level. In-between a new enclosed space is created which can be used for staging events and enjoying everyday life from a good climate perspective. A bad climate is a material or immaterial environment which leaves a distractive effect on the subject.

A good climate provides an environment which does not distract the subject; an environment which normally is not noticed. I chose to extend the public space of the Schillerplatz by elevating a part of the landscape. This process creates two spaces in place of one – a new ‘spatial’ pocket, and an elevated surface. The pavilion is composed of massive pre-fabricated laminated timber elements which are bolted together and treated with a water repellent coating. The 700mm thick timber structure can provide an overall heat transfer coefficient of 0.21 W/m2k.

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1.2 Elemental Interactivity II Gone with the Wind

Trial & Error – Commentary by Peter Carroll Engineer, inventor, architect and philosopher R. Buckminster Fuller was driven by a philosophy of more for less, and vehemently opposed waste, superficial styling, and many manufacturers’ underlying philosophy of built-in obsolescence. Fuller believed human societies would ultimately rely on renewable sources of energy, such as solar- and wind-derived electricity. He hoped for an age of “omni-successful education and sustenance of all humanity.” In referring to Fuller at the outset I cannot but recall a combination of his words dynamic and maximum to coin an appropriate description of the experimental nature of the construction research carried out by visiting students of Construction Materials & Technology from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna that I witnessed in SAUL in 2011: self-breathing envelopes, constructions propelled by convection and formfinding inflatable shelters to name but a few experiments that tested novel constructions to their limits. Students actively grappled with the results of experimental research they performed in order to test the viability and the behaviour of constructions they had developed. These students demonstrated a capability to observe, to link causes with effects and to conduct trial and error experiments and helped reinforce again for me that experimental research such as this is so important to society – it helps us all to further improve our everyday lives. Peter Carroll is a principal of A2 Architects (www.a2.ie/) and course director at The School of Architecture University of Limerick (SAUL) since 2011.

Commentary by Michael Stadler Research is about cultivating the link between questioning and the response from our senses. Simulation techniques represent extensions to our senses and therefore they become an integral part of our creations. Michael Stadler is an electrical engineer and research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California, USA .

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Gone with the Wind Studio description

Note from the Exhibition at the Semper Depot, Vienna 2012 This semester we investigated how materials construction and technologies are shaped by the elemental force of the wind, where they resist, where they interact and where they simply ‘go with the flow’. The students looked closely at a number of art, architecture and engineering works which have been shaped by elemental forces and then looked closely at the wind in experiments and random incidents they have observed. Here the emphasis was on developing methods to record that looking. They were then asked to design and construct an element whose nature is determined by the interactivity they determined for it. We placed 2 large ventilators in the apex of the Prospekthof (Gottfried Semper) and the student installations are placed according to their desired wind intensity.

Make In your main project this semester you will be asked to design and construct an element with both an inner room large enough to contain a person and an outer shell whose thickness and nature is to be determined by the interactivity you determine for it. The construction and interactivity you choose for this element should result from the research and observations you have made in the first month. The construction must interact, above all, with the wind and it must move. This movement can assume many configurations, the whole volume may move, the movement may remain within the thickness of the outer shell or it may transfer to the interior volume. This must be decided, described and recorded by you. Here the materials you use are of prime importance. You are to construct this volume and demonstrate its elemental interactivity in actual scale. Here the materials you use are of prime importance. You are to construct this volume and demonstrate Research In the first two weeks of the semester we will under- its elemental interactivity in actual scale. take a research period where we will look at a num- Your final presentation will consist of your construcber of buildings, projects, art and engineering works tion, a demonstration of its elemental interactivity which have been shaped by elemental forces. and recordings of your observations while designing Again, while we will not attempt to eliminate other and constructing it. It is expected that the major part forces, we will concentrate especially on the effects of the design process will occur while making the of the force of the wind. volume. Observe Studio instructors In the following two weeks you will be asked to look Michelle Howard and Christian Fröhlich very closely at and record the actions of the wind as you observe it, either in an experiment prepared by you or in incidents you have noticed which you have noticed and wish to record and study. Here it is important both to think about which methods you use to look closely at something and which methods you use to record that looking. We will introduce you to various forms of media which will help you in these decisions.

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1.2.1 Desislava Petkova and Matej Malenka The Beast

The installation “Something in the way she moves…” is a self-sustaining inflatable organism, made out of the lightest, most fragile transparent plastic film and feeds herself with the wind alone. The wind enters through her beasty system of arch-formed valves on the surface and, just for the initial inflating, through the long nozzle-like entrance. Inside this softly moving creature, a red heart can just be perceived which is provided with air through arteries. The arteries are connected with two big wind-catching juts which are attached on both upper sides of the surface. The heart stores air which you’ll release, as you go inside our little beast. Take your shoes, jackets and bags off, take all sharp or inflammable objects out of your pockets – keys, lighter, nail-scissors etc. – creep in; please be careful, she is extremely fine and fragile. Go towards the heart and sit or lay down by releasing the weight of your body step-by-step on the pillow. The arteries will close, the valves of the veins will open and lead the stored air out. Enjoy the way she moves… The design of the installation is based on our research which looked at how feather-light surfaces are (de)formed by air movement and how wind can be stored and released again through movement. The fragile beauty and the aesthetic deformation of the fine plastic film combined with a valve and wind storage system allowed us to create a softly moving organism whose beauty is all the more poignant for her fragility, all the more touching for her constancy…

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1.2.2 David Rasner and Nikolaus Rach The Wind Waves Instrument

The wind waves instrument interacts with the wind in a rather unique way. No great strong winds are necessary to give this installation life, no dramatic gestures, but a movement from the onlooker (you), similar to that of blowing out a candle. This quiet soft gesture is enough to bring our machine to life. A small wind sensor gathers the information about this tiny wind movement and translates this input to the motion of a reacting tube network located over your heads. Your breath has created the movements of this flying carpet. Between your breath and the carpet many more processes are at play. There is our transmitting process starting with the analogue input (the breeze), which is translated to a digital signal that controls the motored system you can see above the carpet, the muscles of our reacting tube-network. In this installation the wind is a medium – the information

input- and our construction is the reacting element. While taking control over the sensor, the user plays with the input of our machines brain, and so he or she interacts with the installation. The wind connects the participant (you) to the machine. The form our installation has taken is a result of the observation that we tend to accept everyday phenomena and wonders so quickly. We find it obvious that this should be so and that we should not seek to know more. A piece of thin plastic sheeting which floated on and played with the wind in the most charming and bewitching way. A Windmill turned tirelessly and precisely according to the behaviour of the wind. A pendulum which constantly changed its orbit and gave the impression of having a life of its own.

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1.2.3 Ömer Pekin and Nikola Znaor Exhausted! – Recycling Unwanted Air

Exhausted! Is an inflatable structure attached to the main grille from which the exhaust air of the airconditioning system which serves the Audimax of the TU is blown out. We have captured this unused, unexploited warm air and used it to inflate a warm, heated space on whose interior we have given more information as to the many, many more unused, unexploited, air exhausts in Vienna alone. 152m2 of welded polythene plastic film creates the basis for a double membrane structure which houses two spaces which are inflated and heated by just this exhaust. Exhausted! recycles the warm air from the exhaust and creates a warm and comfortable space in the city which is easy and fast to activate (15 minutes for this very large space!), and at the same time calls attention to an, as yet, unused energy resource. This project is a result of our research on the work of two American artists who woke us up to the potential of inflatables attached to exhausts with warm air, Michael Rakowitz and Joshua Allen Harris. This is not a solution for a specific problem. Rather than proposing such a solution we wish to bring a source of unused energy which can be easily captured to the public arena, encouraging others to use these sources and perhaps make their own interventions.

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1.2.4 Lukas Wulz and Daniel Niens Two Frames. Perceiving Energy.

Two mediums, both invisible, one informs the other. Wind gets transformed into temperature depending on its velocity. The installation transforms the energy generated by the fluttering of many ribbons in the wind through to a very small, thin, wafer-like element called Peltier. Through the energy fed to it by the frenetic actions of these ribbons, the small wafer produces heat on the one side and cold on the other. The visitor can take this wafer between his or her fingers and feel this large temperature difference on both sides of something that is perhaps 2 mm thick. This project uses highly technical tools to transform the movement of the wind into heat and cold and at the same time illustrates the large amount of energy and movement needed to do so. An invisible medium informs another invisible medium. The temperature produced by the Peltier elements is related to the velocity of the airflow, the faster the wind moves the more heat and cold will be produced. Energy is produced via a wind-belt which transfers the movement created by the wind to a membrane via electromagnetic induction which in turn generates an electric current. A Peltier element is linked to this wind-belt and is responsible for the alternating thermal conditions. A Peltier element consists of two ceramic plates connected through a semiconductor. the semiconductor produces heat on one side of the pole and cold on the other side. We wanted the construction to be as light and as invisible as possible, so we made it out of plexiglass and hung the construction on thin wires.

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Cumulus congestus (Cu con) latin for “heap” or “pile”, short: Cu con

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1.3 Elemental Interactivity III On the Modifications of Clouds

Commentary by Stefan Rutzinger In the fading era of star architecture the field of architectural production should be understood as an open discourse and as such as a dynamic and complex interaction of many. Relevant topics are no longer defined by single masterminds but get fostered by excessive exchange and shared research of its participants. Thinking and making the new will therefore become a collective agenda while individual and critical positions from inside are constantly refreshing and challenging the discourse. Stefan Rutzinger is an architect, and partner in soma (www.soma-architecture.com). Currently he teaches at the Bartlett, where he runs MA rch Unit 15.

Commentary by Marike Schuurmann ROM, only in a different order. With my photo camera I look at man-made spaces and landscapes and how people act within them. Starting point is photographing the phenomena from real life, which I find absurd or brilliant. With the ultimate goal to overrule reality. Marike Schuurman is a photographic artist (www.marikeschuurman.com).

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On the Modifications of Clouds Studio description

Note from the Exhibition at the Academy Open Days 2013 It is the continual movement and transition in an element which, to all intents and purposes, seems to maintain its essential characteristics which interested us. Clouds exert a strong influence on the earth’s energy balance; minimal changes in them of only a few percentages of moisture, height or temperature can have a catastrophic effect on the climate. Though seemingly unfathomable, erratic and chaotic at first, on closer inspection clouds reveal themselves to be ordered and predictable albeit on an extremely complex level. It is this interactivity, one which is practically invisible but eminently palpable that we wish to study. How can something change and adapt constantly while seeming to maintain the same elemental structure? How could such a level of finely tuned interactivity manifest itself in architecture?

Fig. 2 Cirrocumulus stratiformis (Cc str) latin: cirro (curl of hair), cumulus (heaped), stratiformis (layered)

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Introduction This semester we will be looking upwards at the clouds in an effort to understand their many states of being. By the 1750s almost everything in the visible world had been named, described and classified. Scientists like Carl Linnaeus had laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature such as homo-sapiens of which he was the designated lectotype or defining example. By that time even the invisible world was slowly yielding it's secrets through the work of Antonie von Leeuwenhoek with microscopy. It was the clouds, those wholly visible, ever present bodies which filled our skies and our idle hours that were proving nigh on impossible to categorise. The difficulty lay in the way scientists were looking at clouds and the methods used. Since Aristotle (365 BC) scientists and philosophers had sought to classify the clouds as they would a botanic species – as elements with defined immutable states and characteristics. But clouds are in states of constant change and are harbingers of movements in the weather cycle. The breakthrough was made in 1802 when Luke Howard, a young amateur meteorologist, gave a lecture entitled, “On the Modifications of Clouds”. In this lecture, Howard defined the clouds as to how they changed and according to their transitions between forms. Clouds are subject to certain distinct modifications, produced by the general causes which affect all the variations of the atmosphere; they are commonly as good visible indicators of the operation of these causes, as is the countenance of the state of a person’s mind or body.

Fig. 1 (left) Sonic boom effect, artificial cloud formed by breaking the sound barrier Fig. 3 (right) Altocumulus floccus (Ac flo), latin: Alto- (middle), -cumulus (heap), -floccus (fluff )

Make In your main project this semester you are asked to design and construct an element with both an inner room large enough to contain a person and an outer shell whose thickness and nature is to be determined by the interactivity you determine for it. The construction and interactivity you choose for this element should result from the research and observations you have made in the first month. The interactivity can assume many configurations, the whole volume may move, the movement may remain within the thickness of the outer shell or it may transfer to the interior volume. The interactivity you Observe determine may not include movement at all and is In the following two weeks you are asked to look perhaps sensitive to light, temperature or acoustics. very closely at and record the actions of clouds as you observe them, either in an experiment prepared This must be decided, described and recorded by you. Your final presentation will consist of your conby you or in incidents you have noticed which you wish to record and study. Here it is important both to struction, a demonstration of its elemental interactivity and recordings of your observations while think about which methods you use to look closely at something and which methods you use to record designing and constructing it. It is expected that that looking. We will look at how materials, construc- the major part of the design process will occur while tion and technologies are shaped by the elemental making the volume. You are encouraged to make forces with which they come into contact, what their your discoveries through the construction of your resistances to these forces are and where they volume, to demolish it, rebuild it and/or uses parts simply ‘go with the flow’. We will introduce you to of it to make another. various forms of media which will help you in these decisions. Studio instructors Michelle Howard and Christian Fröhlich Research In the first week of the semester we will undertake a research period where we will look scientifically at the main cloud modification types, how they are formed and the forces which induce them to transform. Each student will specialise in a type of cloud In the next two weeks each student will discover more about a reference project in which an artist, architect, botanist, programmer or philosopher has studied a particular aspect of the modifications of clouds or complex interactions.

Fig. 4 Cirrocumulus lenticularis (Cc le) latin: cirro (curl of hair), cumulus (heaped), lenticularis (lense shaped) Elemental Interactivity III

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1.3.1 Eva Herunter and Fabian Puttinger Hygrometer

Hygrometer (hīgrŏm`əətəər): instrument used to measure the moisture content of a gas, as in determining the relative humidity of air. Our weather system is altered by a myriad of forces as a result of the most nuanced of alterations within. These fine nuances may seem insignificant at first but reveal themselves, on closer observation, to be essential elements of a highly complex and ordered system. We have sought to create a direct and visible illustration of the elemental interactivity between the changing forces which create and modify the clouds. Change in the relative humidity of the surrounding air triggers a change of length in the human hair. This phenomenon is emphasised by connecting a human hair to a sensitive pulley-system which translates it onto a finely tuned dispersed structure. This fragile structure gently spreads out and retracts according to the spatial conditions in which it performs. Elemental forces such as humidity, weight, strength and material characteristics interact in multiple scales aiming “to move as closely as possible to a flexibility and overall constructivity”*. Within the natural scale of time, a transition from one state to another takes place and can be studied from different points of view. * From Junya Ishigami, “Another Scale of Architecture”

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1.3.2 Lukas Debiasi, Anna Aichinger and Frank Ellenberger 110G

This is a kinetic installation which describes the Aula space through climatical conditions such as heat, cold and air movement. The work consists of many cubic balloons just as clouds consist of tiny water molecules and is stabilised by the use of tiny weights. The visitor interacts with this delicate stability by introducing changes in temperature and air movement. Two aspects of contemporary architecture are criticised: Architecture as a static structure which ignores the physical conditions of its surroundings. Design as the result of one experts’ lone intellect, confronting users with a finished product they are not permitted to change.

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1.3.3 Patrick Pregesbauer and Jiri Tomicek Interpolation

The climate’s transformation processes belong to topics still to be discovered. Study of clouds is without doubt one of the most complex. Very sensitive to just a slight change of inputs effecting its formation, they are keeping meteorologists in a desperate obsession for the cognition of a true pattern. This search would consist of setting up as many measuring devices as possible, retrospectively analysing its results and turning these into fiction that we know as the weather forecast. In our work, we are retrospectively looking at already existing space and its performance, while again trying to reconstruct or reinvent its qualities in order to visualize or define what it takes to change, from one state to another, with focus on the process taking place in-between, drawing attention to situations which would normally remain unnoticed.

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1.3.4 Roxi Rieder, Anna Requat and Anna Valentiny Particles

A construction created entirely from white nylon threads. The support construction consists of 60 lengths of nylon strung horizontally over a distance of 4,5 m in one direction and 3 m in the other. 100 threads per length at spaced at 4 cm are attached to this construction and hang down to the floor. Momentary conditions, chain reactions and the densification of particles determine the ever-changing appearances of a cloud. Clouds thereby visualise climatic conditions surrounding them and the mass of particles composing the cloud react and transform accordingly. Following Lavoisiers Principle “Nothing is lost, nothing is added, everything is transformed”, the construction has a clearly structured initial context which should be understood as an abstraction of the basic mass of particles. This mass can then be manipulated by outside influences (the visitor) and interactions between the particles themselves. The number of particles remains the same, but their constellation is constantly changing. Please remove any bulky clothing items such as shoes, coats, watches and jewellery before entering the installation.

Elemental Interactivity III

On the Modification of Clouds

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Book 2

Spatial Interactivity

In these studios the hidden power of spatial systems is examined, rediscovered and used as a tool to grasp and develop projects based on complex and ordered building programs. Spaces do not have to behave as little boxes, each sitting one beside the other in an orderly and somewhat static fashion. Interacting spaces not only fulfil their initial programmatic requirements but open up new possibilities or use and reactivate old ones one may have thought superseded. Thus we may get more than we planned …

Helmut Hempel ROM – Das Einmaleins

Forschen und Produzieren Der Architekt Friedrich Kiesler entwickelte Objekte, deren Verwendung nicht unbedingt klar wirkt.Abb. 1 Ihre Form lässt offensichtlich nicht direkt auf die Funktion schließen. Die lange proklamierte Forderung der Archi­tekturtheorie, Form soll der Funktion folgen, ist auf diese Objekte nicht anwendbar. Die Objekte erklären sich nicht sofort. So weiß man z. B. nicht, ob ihre Oberflächen Außenflächen oder innere Schnittflächen darstellen. Die Positionen unten, oben oder seitlich zeigen sich unklar und austauschbar. Auch ob die Objekte weich oder hart sind, ist nicht erkennbar. Friedrich Kiesler nannte sie 1942 „Correalistische Objekte“ oder „Correalistische Instrumente“ 1 – quasi zur Durchführung wissenschaft­ licher Versuche. Die Objekte sind mehrdeutig. Zwar scharf in ihren Konturen, aber unscharf in ihrer Wirkung. Unsere Interpretation ist erforderlich. Dazu wird unsere eigene Wahrnehmung geradezu herausgefordert. Mit uns und durch unse­re Deutungsversuche kommt in dieser Phase der sogenannte Nutzer ins Spiel, und zwar gewaltig, als Anwender, User, Rezipient oder Interpret usw. Das Gesehene wird abhängig vom Betrachter, es gerät in Abhängigkeit zu ihm, es steht in Relation zu ihm. Eine Beziehung, die so weit führt, dass der Rezipient das von ihm Gesehene selbst erwirkt, ja selbst produziert: in diesem Fall z. B. ein surreales Wohnobjekt. Umberto Eco definierte diesen Vorgang als so bezeichnete zweite Produktion, nach der ersten, eben der materiellen Herstellung.2 Diesen Gegenstand, der vom Wahrnehmenden gebildet wird, nennt die Wissenschaft des 20. Jahrhunderts Phänomen, Zwischengegenstand oder Gestalt. Wir haben also auf der einen Seite den Begriff der Form, die einem Objekt zugeschrieben wird, und auf der anderen Seite die Gestalt, die auf ein Subjekt verweist. Einerseits bestehen dementsprechend ein materieller, mathematischer, metrisch-geometrischer Befund, andererseits ein parametrischer, humanwissenschaftlicher Wert und seine Bedeutung. Die Beziehung zwischen Objekt und Rezipient ist nicht einseitig, sondern wechselseitig, eben korreal. Denn Erkenntnisse werden durch uns ständig überprüft, kommuniziert und verändert. Fixe Zuschreibungen halten nicht dauerhaft. Denn: Bedeutungen bilden sich in Prozessen und verlieren sich wieder in Bedeutungsleere. Die Objekte von Kiesler provozieren diesen Prozess. Eigentlich ist es nur ein einziges Objekt, das viele Verwendungsmöglichkeiten zulässt, ja anbietet. Spielerisch lassen sich mit einem einzigen Objekt 18 verschiedene Anwendungen realisieren. Von der Ebene einer Gestaltungslehre ergibt sich hier eine Brücke zur Nachhaltigkeit und zu Forderungen von Nachhaltigkeit: Gegenstände sollen eine formale Offenheit aufweisen, Flexibilität zulassen, Mehrfachnutzen erbringen, an veränderte Anforderungen anpassbar sein, Kom­ plexität besitzen. Kieslers Correalistische Objekte tun dies. Ursprünglich 90

Book 2

Abb. 1 Correalistisches Instrument, Re-Edition Friedrich Kiesler von Wittmann, Möbelwerkstätten, Wien 2002, Foto: Wittmann Möbelwerkstätten

konzipierte Kiesler diese Gegenstände für den Raum einer Kunstgalerie in New York 1942. Sie sind nun, nach 70 Jahren, formal unverbraucht und werden deshalb wieder und weiter produziert 3 sowie gleichfalls lustvoll wiederverwendet. Diese hier behandelte korrelative Beziehungsstruktur zwischen Objekten und deren Verwender gilt ebenso und grundlegend im Diskurs von Architektur und Raum. Zu untersuchen und beachten ist die maßgebende korrelative Beziehung zwischen Mensch und Architektur auf der Ebene von Raum und Verhalten. Forschen und Beobachten Christopher Alexanders Buch „A Pattern Language“, herausgegeben 1977 in der Oxford University Press, erschien als deutschsprachige Ausgabe erst 1995 mit dem Titel „Eine Muster-Sprache: Städte, Gebäude, Konstruktion“.5 Der mit seiner Familie 1938 aus Österreich emigrierte Alexander war Architekturtheoretiker und Kritiker von Architekturtheorie zugleich, von Anfang an: „Ich besuchte 1956 die Architekturschule in Cambridge, ob­wohl sie ein völliger Unsinn war. Ich hatte den Eindruck, nichts zu lernen, jedenfalls nichts Sinnvolles.“ 6 Auf der Suche nach einer humanen Architektur begann er in Harvard (mit Serge Chermayeff, Eduard Sekler u. a.) mit Mitteln der wissenschaftlichen Beobachtung zu forschen: „So fing ich an, durch sehr, sehr detaillierte, fast anthropologische Versuche zu begreifen, was Leute in Gebäuden machen, welche menschlichen Bedürfnisse in Gebäuden entwickelt werden und wie man mit ihnen umgeht. Ich wollte die vielen kleinen Dinge festhalten, die sich da abspielen … die eigentlichen Fragen kamen aus der Beobachtung von Bauwerken, die gut funktionierten.“ 7 Alexanders Architektur-Pattern sind angereicherte, kompakte und zugleich kompatible Einheiten. Sie wären besser übersetzt mit Gebilden, Modellen 4

Spatial Interactivity

ROM – Das Einmaleins

1 Kiesler, F., Wissenschaft der Gestaltung: Correalismus. Columbia University 1937– 41, Laboratory for Design Correlation, Manifest des Correalismus, Paris 1949 2 Vgl.: Eco, U., Das offene Kunstwerk. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt a. M. 1973 3 Wittmann Möbelwerkstätten (Hg.), Re-Edition Friedrich Kiesler. In Koope­ ration mit der Österreichischen Friedrich und Kilian Kiesler-Privatstiftung, Katalog, Etsdorf/Kamp 2005 4 Vgl. Hempel, H., Die Beobachtung. Zu einer Semiotik von Räumen (2). In: Ztschr. Architektur & Bauforum, Nr. 175, Österr. Wirtschaftsverlag, Wien 1995, S. 43ff. 5 Alexander, Christopher u. a., Eine Muster-Sprache: Städte, Gebäude, Konstruktion. Löcker, Wien 1995 6 Schrom, G., Der Mond ist unter. Christopher Alexander im Gespräch mit Georg Schrom. In: Architektur aktuell, Hft. 181/182, S. 92ff. 7 a. a. O., S. 93

91

oder Ensembles. Sie sind nicht Ergebnisse von Reduktionen auf allein materielle Elemente wie z. B. Bauelemente oder lexikalische Begriffe. Sie sind hingegen Vielheiten, zusammengesetzt aus materiellen und immateriellen Elementen. Linguistisch ausgedrückt: Morphem, Phonem und Logem zugleich, also materielles Gefüge mit Bildwert und Sinnzusammenhang.8 Alexander gelangt über die Beobachtung zu seinen Pattern. Beobachten an sich klingt einfach, beinahe passiv, ist jedoch fundamentaler Bestandteil menschlichen Lebens. Beobachten, darauf soll hier verwiesen werden, ist ein vielschichtiger, höchst komplexer Vorgang mit unbegrenztem Potenzial.9 Beobachten ist eine Form des Verhaltens. Die Beobachtung erfasst Ver­­ halten und ist selbst Verhalten. Verhalten bezeichnet die Wechselwirkung eines Organismus mit seiner Umwelt. Im Bereich menschlichen Verhaltens ist die Verhaltensbeobachtung (beschreibend, erklärend) zu erweitern durch Nachfragen (Sprachbezug nach Absichten, Erwartungen, Interessen). Und sie ist deutend, interpretierend, verstehend in Bezug auf Lebens­ welten.10 Zur Ethologie (erforscht Verhaltensmuster) tritt die Ethik, die untersucht, wie Verhaltensweisen verantwortbar sind. In Bezug zu Raum muss von einer spatialen oder choreutischen Ethologie gesprochen werden (von griech. choreuein: im Raum handelnd sich bewegen). Besonderen Wert bekommt die Beobachtung durch die Arbeit in situ. Das heißt: Der Beobachtungsgegenstand wird zusammen mit seiner topo­grafischen Umgebung, mit der Bezug gebenden Örtlichkeit, in dem vor handenen sozialen Feld, mit der räumlichen Umwelt, in seinen Zusammenhängen beachtet und nicht extrapoliert. Wissenschaftliches Arbeiten und Forschen der letzten Jahrhunderte war hingegen auf (Zer-)Gliederung, 92

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Abb. 2 Das Bild wird Raum: Ein distanziert betrachtetes Wandbild generiert zum ­Raumelement und Teil des erfahrenen Raumes. Mit dem Auge nicht wahrnehmbar, auch nicht bei genauester Hinsicht, besteht das Verkleidungsmaterial eines neun Meter langen, von einer Seite her auskragenden Objekts aus matt glänzendem schwarzen Gummi. Architekten Pauhof, Wenn die Angst das Lachen erstickt, 1993, Kunsthalle Wien.

Aufteilung, Aussonderung, Elementarisieren ausgerichtet (Laborarbeiten). Nur so ist es möglich, auch in der Komplexität zu arbeiten; vergleichbar der Chaosforschung, die eine Vorgangsweise versucht, Noch-Unbekanntes, Unstrukturiertes in ihre Arbeit zu integrieren. Operiert wird mit rela­­tionalen Beziehungsmodellen anstelle von fixen Einzelelementen.11 Die sogenannte Verhaltensforschung selbst definiert Verhalten hingegen oft zu eng, als bloß reaktives Verhalten, vergleichbar mit den Reiz-­Reaktions-Schemata von Pawlow. Verhalten meint hier verstehendes Handeln. Dieses organisiert sich nicht nur über Nervensysteme oder über Sinne, sondern schließt auch Verstehen und Denken mit ein und beachtet den kulturellen Kontext. Es gibt kein Verhalten losgelöst von Räumlichkeit, umgekehrt auch keinen Raum ohne Verhaltensbezug. Kurt Lewin definierte Verhalten als eine Funktion von Person und Umwelt.12 Umwelt ist Räumlichkeit – Raum ist Umwelt (biologisch) und Welt (philosophisch). Verhalten ist also immer räumlich. Die Beziehung von Verhalten und Raum ist daher entscheidend für den Raumbegriff. Diese Beziehung ist nicht einseitig, sondern wechselseitig, eine Korrelation. Raum und Körperlichkeit bedingen sich wechselseitig: Raum verändert das Verhalten und Verhalten verändert den Raum. Es ist der Raum, der Architektur und Verhalten vermittelt. Der Raum ist schon Gemeinsames: Korrelation von Architektur und Verhalten. Forschungsgegenstand Raum Louis Kahn qualifizierte Architektur mit der Aussage: „Die wichtigste Aufgabe der Architektur ist das Schaffen von Raum.“ 13 – Aber was ist Raum? Ist Raum der Leerraum zwischen Materialien, oder physikalisch die Luft zwischen Begrenzungsflächen, oder mathematisch ein Volumen? Ist Raum legistisch die Widmung, oder nutzungsspezifisch die Funktion? Oder ist Raum proxemisch der Abstand zwischen Wänden, oder sozial wie biologisch: Umraum, Handlungsraum oder Lebensraum? Ist er psychosozial die Weite oder Offenheit im Gegensatz zur Enge oder Abgeschlossenheit? Oder ist Raum philosophisch Welt? … Der Raum erhält demnach viele Zuschreibungen – aber ist er überhaupt vorhanden und als solcher sichtbar und anschaulich? Er ist ein Zwischending 14 zwischen mir und meiner Umwelt, aber wie ist er begreifbar und feststellbar? Raum ist ein Qualitätsbegriff, den wir konkreten Situationen zuschreiben, in denen wir uns befinden. Wir stehen Raum nicht gegenüber, sondern sind untrennbar mit ihm verhaftet. Abbildung 2 zeigt eine Szene einer Ausstellung der Architekten Pauhof in der Kunsthalle Wien 1993 15: Ein Bild wird Raum, es erschließt sich nicht mehr schaubar, es wird Teil unseres Raumes. Baustoff und Werkstruktur interpretiert und realisiert durch uns. Unsere Realität.16 Raum ist als solcher nicht einfach vorhanden und auffindbar – Raum ist Leistung unserer Vorstellung, ist Produktion durch uns. Wir nehmen ihn nicht einfach wahr – sondern fügen durch uns zur Wahrnehmung etwas hinzu, bilden Raum durch uns. Der materielle Raum wird dabei von einem mentalen überlagert. Architektur ist, semiotisch definiert, ein potenzieller Zeichenvorrat, aus dem sich erst durch unser Verhalten (sehen, hören, begehen, benutzen, gebrauchen etc.) semantische Zeichen wie Räume bilden und sich eine Zeichensprache im Medium Raum generiert. Kommunikation bildet dabei der Verständniszusammenhang, in dem Räume, Verhalten und zugehörige Objekte Bedeutung bekommen. Raumbefunde sind auch nicht endgültig oder umfassend. Raum ist nur in Relationen zu mir, zu uns, unserer Vorstellung, unserer Soziologie, unserer Spatial Interactivity

ROM – Das Einmaleins

8 a. a. O., Anm. 4, S. 43 9 Vgl. Bernsdorf, W. (Hg.), Wörterbuch der Soziologie. Enke, Stuttgart 1979, S. 85ff. 10 Vgl. Muck, H., Verhalten. Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien 1990, Skript 11 a. a. O., Anm. 4, S. 44 12 Lewin, K., 1934. Zit. in: Muck, H., Der Raum. Baugefüge, Bild und Lebenswelt. Architektur-und Baufachverlag, Wien 1986, S. 19 13 Vgl. Hempel, H., Vom Raum zu Räumen. Zu einer Semiotik von Räumen (3). In: Ztschr. Architektur & Bauforum, Nr. 177, Österr. Wirtschaftsverlag, Wien 1995, S. 31 14 Vgl. Muck, H., Zwischen den Dingen. Kat. Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien (Hg.), 1979, S. 54. E. Brunswik führte den Terminus „Zwischengegenstand“ ein, um auszudrücken, dass das, was wir erleben, „zwischen“ den „reinen“ Gegenständen liegt, die eine objektive Beschreibung der Situation ergibt. Vgl. Norberg-Schulz, C., Logik der Baukunst. Gütersloh, Berlin, München 1968, S. 29 15 Vgl. Hempel, H., Im Raum der Sinne. Zu einer Semiotik von Räumen (6). In: Architektur & Bauforum, Wien 1997, S. 50 16 Vgl. Frey, D., Kunstwissenschaftliche Grundfragen. Wien 1946, S. 96f: „Indem ich dem Ding außer mir die gleiche Existenz zubillige, ordne ich es in den Raum und in die Zeit meiner Existenz ein. Was wirklich ist, ist, eben weil es wirklich ist, mit mir gleichzeitig, ist gegenwärtig, ist eingeschlossen in den einheitlichen und einzigen Raum meiner Existenz.“ 93

Kultur etc. erfahrbar. Raum ist demnach nur relational beschreibbar, eine absolute Raumbeschreibung gibt es bei Beachtung der Komplexität nicht. Wie lassen sich solche komplexen Zusammenhänge darstellen? Ernst Anton Plischke, Architekt und von 1963 bis 1973 Professor an der Akademie der bildenden Künste in Wien, entwickelte dazu ein klares Beziehungsschema 17. Es vernetzt verschiedene Ebenen der Architektur in ein relationales Modell und weist so den Weg zu einer modernen Architetur –  Plischke war Österreichs Repräsentant der sogenannten Moderne in den 1930er-Jahren des 20. Jahrhunderts im Bereich der Architektur. Abb. 3 Auffallend ist an dem Schema, dass zum einen nicht eine Anforderung besonders hervorgehoben wird, z. B. die Konstruktion oder die Funktion, wie sie ein Konstruktivismus oder ein Funktionalismus dieser Zeit besonders betonten. Zum anderen verweist Plischke auf den Raumzusammenhang, und zwar auf einem höchst künstlerischen Niveau: „Das Ziel einer vollentwickelten modernen Architektur muss meiner Ansicht nach eine Einheit sein zwischen einem räumlichen Konzept einerseits und einer Bauplastik andererseits.“ Und weiter: „Diese beiden Qualitäten (Raum wird hier als Qualität definiert, Anm. des Verfassers) müssen aber aus der Erfüllung der Funktion eines Bauwerks und seiner Konstruktion erarbeitet werden. Die wesentliche Qualität einer solchen vollentwickelten Architektur liegt in der Spannung (als Korrelationsintensität mit Rezipienten, Anm. des Verfassers) zwischen dem Raumkonzept und der Funktion einerseits und zwischen der Vision einer Bauplastik und der Konstruktion andererseits. Es ist erst diese Spannung (synästhetische Einwirkung, Anm. des Verfassers), welche einen Bau lebendig macht und zu einem Spürbarwerden seiner Architektonik führen kann.“ 18 „Ohne diese Spannung haben wir entweder einen reinen Utilitarismus oder eine abstrakte (vgl.: abstraktes Modell im Unterschied zu einem konkreten, wahrgenommenen, Anm. des Verfassers Bauplastik.“ 19 Plischkes Forderung nach Qualität entspricht semiotisch gesprochen der Generierung von Bedeutung, erwachsen in situativen Zusammenhängen. Zu suchen sind deshalb die jeweils Einfluss gebenden Bedingungen, aus denen sich Bedeutung generiert. Exkurs über die Inhomogenität von Bodenflächen Der Wert eines Raumes ist aus seiner Inhomogenität abzuleiten! 20 Flächen, z. B. als Fußbodenflächen, werden in der Architektur zumeist als Nutzflächen, Brutto- oder Nettogeschossflächen u. a. bezeichnet und behandelt; schlimmer, mit Euro pro Quadratmeter Geschossfläche als Baukosten oder Mietkosten auch hinsichtlich ihrer Qualität bewertet. Diese referenziellen Zahlen sind mathematische Mengenangaben, die jedoch wenig über eine räumliche Entsprechung zu Qualität oder Bedeutung aussagen. Die Referenzzahlen werden in Folge kombiniert mit Ausstattungshinweisen wie Materialangaben von Böden oder Farbgebungen von Wandflächen und erwecken damit den Eindruck, Räume ausreichend beschrieben zu haben. Aber ist jeder Quadratmeter Bodenfläche gleichwertig? Raum wird erfahren, wo Abstände wahrgenommen, eingehalten oder überwunden werden. Die Art, in der Abstände eingeschätzt oder zurückgelegt werden, zeigt schon unter der Rücksicht des Verhaltens eine Gliederung nach Orientiertheit, Intensität der Bewegung, Zonung und Schwellenerfahrung, die baulichen Bewertungen zugrunde liegen – oder in der Einebnung auf rein technische Maßstäbe auch untergehen können. Werte wie links, rechts, vorn, weit, nah usw. beziehen sich auf jeweils zugehörige Wertfelder, in denen menschliche Erfahrungsmaßstäbe gelten. Diese Maßstäbe sind parametrisch, nicht messbar mit dem Maßstab aus 94

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Abb. 3 Ernst A. Plischke, Schema für eine moderne Architektur. Bildrechte: Plischke Nachlass

einheitlichem Nebeneinander von Zentimetern und Metern. Der Lebensraum ist inhomogen. Er entspricht nicht der linear gleichmäßigen Verteilung am Reißbrett und korrespondiert nicht mit den Maßen und Systemen der technischen Welt.21 Eine schwerwiegende Verzerrung ergibt daher jede Planungstätigkeit, die sich diesem Kontext verschließt. Dem konventionellen Planzeichnen, beispielsweise den Bauaufnahmen, entspricht keine angemessene Bemühung um Erfassung des Lebensraumes, in dem, wie vorhin angeführt, metrische Strecken entweder als Entfernung oder Nähe gewertet werden, oftmals auch von einer in die andere Beziehung wechseln können. Gut gemeinte Planungen, die diese Zusammenhänge nicht beachten, geraten so in Gefahr, unterlaufen und völlig missverstanden zu werden. Exkurs über Raumöffnungen wie Fenster und Türen Gibt es einen Raum ohne Öffnung? 22 Diese Fragestellung intendiert einen völlig andersartigen Zugang zur Raumbehandlung wie auch völlig andere Raumvorstellungen. Räume ohne Öffnung gibt es eigentlich nicht – ausgenommen in Sonderfällen. Diese sind nur für Menschen, die aus dem Leben genommen sind, gegeben: Gefängniszellen, Särge. Also Räume für Isolierte, für Tote. Leben hingegen ist nicht Isolation. Leben bezieht sich wechselseitig auf Abgrenzung wie gleichzeitig aber auch auf Öffnung und Austausch. Schon die einfachsten Lebewesen, Einzeller, regulieren mit Flimmerhärchen, was über eine Öffnung in sie eingelassen oder abgehalten wird. Öffnung bedeutet Verbindung und Austausch mit der Umgebung, mit der Umwelt. In der Öffnung repräsentiert sich die jeweils maßgebliche Beziehung. Ein Raum definiert sich ebenso nicht aus sich selbst heraus – seinen Eigenschaften, sondern über seine Öffnungen aus seinen Verbindungen – seinen Beziehungen zu anderen Räumen. Vergleichbar mit der Bedeutung eines Wortes, die sich aus der Syntax, dem Kontext und Kotext usw. ableitet, ergibt sich die des Raumes erst aus seiner Verwendung, seinem Gebrauch. Den Öffnungen wurde in den letzten Jahrzehnten zu wenig Beachtung ­geschenkt. Ihre Behandlung wird in der Regel mit Normfenstern und Normtüren abgedeckt und führt so zu einer Verödung der Raumlandschaft. Die Öffnung ist eine Metapher für Leben. In ihrer Wirkung ist sie höchst komplex. Im Wohnbau leistet sie Verbindung – gegen soziale Isolierung – wie auch Trennung und Abschirmung – Privatheit. Sie erfüllt nicht nur physikalische Aufgaben, Schutz gegen Umwelteinflüsse wie Lärm, Kälte usw., sondern auch soziale, psychologische und kulturelle.23 Eine Öffnung wird höchst unterschiedlich erforscht und beachtet, beispielsweise als Polytyra (archäologisch) oder als Interkolumnium (kunsthistorisch), als Barriere, Verbindung oder Sperre (sozialpsychologisch), als Tür oder Fenster (architekturtypologisch), als Verriegelung oder Schließelement (bautechnisch). Diese Komplexität ist im Zuge eines Planungsund Herstellungsprozesses zu beachten.

17 Plische, E. A., Ein Leben mit Architektur. On the Human Aspect in Modern Architecture. Löcker, Wien 1998, S. 481 18 Plischke, E. A., Rektors-Inaugura­tionsrede. Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, 1965. In: Ernst A. Plischke Gesellschaft (Hg.), Kat. Ernst A. Plischke-Preis 2011. Müry Salzmann, Salzburg 2011, S. 6 19 a. a. O., S. 6 20 Vgl. Hempel, H., Ort und Raum. Zu einer Semiotik von Räumen (5). In: Ztschr. Architektur & Bauforum, Nr. 181, Wien 1996, S. 60 21 Muck, H., Der Raum. Baugefüge, Bild und Lebenswelt. Architektur- und Baufachverlag, Wien 1986, S. 28 22 Vgl. Hempel, H., Raum ohne Öffnung? Zu einer Semiotik von Räumen (1). In: Ztschr. Architektur & Bauforum, Nr. 175, Österr. Wirtschaftsverlag, Wien 1995, S. 46ff. 23 a. a. O., S. 46

Exkurs zu Deckenkonstruktionen Der Wert eines Raumes bestimmt sich aus einer Hermeneutik, einer Bedeutungslehre, nicht aus der Stilgeschichte: Deckenkonstruktionen werden als „Oben“, als Firmament oder Himmel gewertet, lange vor und unabhängig von jeweiligen formalen oder stilistischen Ausgestaltungen.24 Der dänische Architekt Theophil Hansen plante im Zuge des Wiener Ringstraßenbaus im 19. Jahrhundert neben Musikverein, Börse und Par­la­ ment auch die Akademie der bildenden Künste. Die Decke des tempel­ gleichen Festsaales sollte, rückgreifend auf die hohe Baukunst der Antike, als Kassettendecke ausgeführt werden. Sein Professorenkollege und Spatial Interactivity

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­ aler Anselm Feuerbach war für die Bemalung der Decke zuständig. Denn M die Malerei bestimmte, wie im vorhergehenden Kunststil des Barocks deutlich, die Gestaltung von Deckenuntersichten. Die Vorgabe des Architekten, eine antike gerasterte Kassettenkonstruktion, war für das Vorhaben des Malers, ein kolossales Deckengemälde herzustellen – „Himmelssturz der Titanen“ bezogen auf die griechische Mythologie, einfach unvereinbar. Hansens Deckenentwurf kritisierte und verglich Feuerbach mit einem trivialen Wartesaal erster Klasse 25 . Unvereinbar war der Konflikt über eine Deckenherstellung zwischen der Absicht des Architekten und der Vorstellung des Malers. 1876 wurde das Gebäude im Beisein des Kaisers festlich eröffnet – die Decke der Aula über der Festversammlung war im Zustand des „Rohbaus“. Ihre „Fertigstellung“ erlangte sie Jahrzehnte später, längst nach dem Tode des Malers, durch Schüler. Die Malerei verlor zu diesem Zeitpunkt die hoheitliche Zuständigkeit für Deckengestaltungen. Während die biologisch-genetische Entwicklung des Menschen in jahrtausendelangen evolutionären Schritten erfolgt, voll­zieht sich die kulturelle Entwicklung in Sprüngen, in deutlich unterscheidbaren Stadien, ja in Gegensätzen und Gegenkulturen. Während die Bedeutung von Bauteilen wie der von Deckenkonstruktionen für Menschen und deren Verhalten im Laufe der Geschichte weitgehend gleich bleibt, wechselt die Ausformung von Bauteilen, insbesondere in Verbindung mit jeweils aktuellen Baustilen, im Laufe der Geschichte oft und sehr konträr. Eine Hermeneutik von Bauteilen ist zu beachten in Verbindung mit Stilbeschreibungen der Kunst- oder Architekturge­schichte.

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Abb. 4 Presshaus und Weinkeller Weingut Bründlmayer, Planung: Hempel Architekten ZT GmbH, Langenlois 2013.

Exkurs Licht und Beleuchtung Wann und wie kam das Licht eigentlich an die Decke? 26 Auf funktional-­ technischer Ebene sind wir daran gewöhnt, Licht- und Beleuchtungseinrichtungen an die Decke zu montieren, denken wir an Büros, Arbeitsräume, Banken, Schulen usw. Auch im Wohnbau gilt der typische Standard: ein Mittelauslass für beinahe jede Raumbeleuchtung. Es drängt sich hier die Frage nach dem Ursprung dieses heute so gewohnten und selbverständ­ lichen Standards auf. Es ist noch nicht lange her. Im Bauhausarchiv findet sich eine Erklärung: 1921 wird der Architekt Walter Gropius als neuer Bauhausdirektor in Weimar mit dem ersten Projekt beauftragt: dem Umbau des Stadttheaters von Jena. Alle Kräfte an Malern und Bildhauern, die ihm zur Verfügung stehen, bezieht er in die Aufgabe ein. Der Künstlerkollege Oskar Schlemmer malt das Deckengemälde für die Aula. Theo van Doesburg, Repräsentant der holländischen De-Stijl-Bewegung, besucht Gropius in dieser Bauphase und äußert sich aber sehr kritisch über diese Deckenmalerei. Getroffen von dieser Kritik lässt Gropius das fast fertiggestellte Deckengemälde auf eigene Kosten entfernen. Bildhaft können wir uns die damit verbundenen Auseinandersetzungen zwischen den beiden Bauhausprofessorenkollegen Gropius und Schlemmer vor­stellen – aber die Decke bleibt ungestaltet und weiß, die sogenannte Moderne in der Architektur beginnt. Was aber rückt zeitgleich in dieses Vakuum der nun scheinbar kunstlosen Decke: das Licht, und mit ihm die Beleuchtungsarchitektur. Licht ist damit, räumlich gesprochen, in den Rang der Kunst gelangt. Künstliches Licht ist ab diesem Zeitpunkt nicht mehr nur funktionelle Beleuchtung, z. B. für die im Raum positionierte bildende Kunst, sondern wird selbst zur Kunst. Ein außergewöhnliches Beispiel dafür gestaltete die Medienkünstlerin Pipilotti Rist mit ihrer Dach- bzw. Deckenuntersichtgestaltung des Hotels Sofitel von Architekt Jean Nouvel, zu sehen am nächtlichen Himmel von Wien. Exkurs über Raumgefüge Kein Raum besteht für sich! Der Wert eines Raumes bestimmt sich aus seinem Raumzusammenhang.27 Die Eigenart eines Raumes ergibt sich erstens aus einer sequenziell begangenen Raumfolge – ein hoher Raum erscheint nur deshalb hoch, weil zuvor ein niedrigerer Raum vorgelagert war. Zweitens syntagmatisch aus dem örtlich vorhandenen Raumgefüge –  ein breiter Raum erscheint nur deshalb breit, weil er zwischen schmalen positioniert ist. Oder drittens: Die Rezeption wird paradigmatisch bestimmt durch unsere Lebenserfahrung – ein Raum erscheint nur deswegen hell, weil in gewohnter Weise dunklere Räume vorherrschen. Die Beachtung des Raumzusammenhangs bestimmte auch die Planung des Presshauses und Weinkellers vom Weingut Bründlmayer: Zwei unter­schiedliche, eben gegensätzliche Raumeigenschaften sind dabei kombiniert, um deren jeweiligen Wert hervorzuheben und zu steigern: Ein offener Bauteil überdeckt einen geschlossenen Sockel. Abb. 4 Üblicherweise werden verschiedene, auch unterschiedliche Anforderungen an einen Bau in einem einheitlichen Gebäude vereint und zusam­ mengelegt. Gegenteilig dazu wurde das Planungskonzept für das Weingut Bründlmayer angelegt: Ein großvolumiger, geschlossener Kellerraum einerseits, eine Art Gebäudesockel bildend, ist in das Hanggelände weitgehend abgesenkt und integriert und kontrastiert dadurch den als offen konzipierten, nur mit einem Flugdach abgedeckten Pressraum andererseits. Mittels dieser Opposition in der Gestaltung des Raumzusammenhangs verstärkt sich die Lesbarkeit und Wertzuschreibung der Architektur. Spatial Interactivity

ROM – Das Einmaleins

24 Vgl. Muck, H., Der Raum. Baugefüge, Bild und Lebenswelt. Architektur- und Baufachverlag, Wien 1986, S. 50 25 Vgl. Reiter, C., Theophil Hansen als Gestalter der plastischen und malerischen Ausgestaltung des Akademiegebäudes. In: Bastl, B., Reiter, C., Schober, E. (Hg.), Theophil Hansen und die Bibliothek der Akademie der bildenden Künste. Bibliothek der Provinz, Weitra 2011, S. 121, Anm. 32: Kern/Uhde-Bernays, Feuerbachs Briefe. Bd. II , S. 232 26 Vgl. Hempel, H., Kunst-Licht-Raum. Zur österreichweiten Präsentation von Zumtobel Staff: Lichterlebnisse. In Ztschr. Architektur & Bauforum, Österr. Wirtschaftverlag, Wien 1999 27 Vgl. Hempel, H., Vom Raum zu Räumen. Zu einer Semiotik von Räumen (3). In: Ztschr. Architektur & Bauforum, Nr. 179, Österr. Wirtschaftverlag, Wien 1996, S. 30ff. 97

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2.1 The Spatial Interactivity I Building Fast – What Succeeds the Secession?

Commentary by Mario Carpo Bigger objects are not simply made by the assembly of many smaller ones; at some point in the design and production process, the model seems not to be scalable. … Ten students can conceive and make a pavilion, but at present, using today’s technologies, this does not mean that one hundred students can conceive and make a housing project, nor can one thousand students conceive and make a skyscraper. Today’s building and construction industry does not yet work that way. But technical thresholds move fast … Mario Carpo is an architectural historian and inaugural Reyner Banham Professor of Architectural History and Theory at University College, London.

Commentary by Hannes Stiefel While thinking about both the undoubtedly constructive and verifiably obliterating characters of a methodical view and an expanded research, the straying glance suspends on the self-portrait of Lucian Freud, and I recall his statement: “When you find things very moving, the desire to find out more lessens rather. Rather like when in love with somebody, you don’t want to meet the parents.” – He calls it Reflection, the self-portrait, and Reflection is the term I would like to add to the list of words that are up for discussion here*. A term that shifts the position of the observer into the picture and critically illuminates the relation of the observer to the subject of investigation – including himself. * Research – Observe – Make. Hannes Stiefel is an architect and professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna.

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Building Fast – What Succeeds the Secession? Studio description

Motor and protagonist of this studio is the Vienna Secession Building which was planned and built in only six months, each of its renovations and reconstructions have taken longer to complete. The Building was planned loosely enough to accommodate all of the subsequent refurbishments, renovations and modernizations easily without compromising its inherent qualities. As a tool to assist the speed of construction the students were asked to choose and research a system of prefabricated components of their own choice. Having understood how this system works, they were asked to seek original concepts for using it which could contribute to their design intentions. Design Project Objectives It is surprising that in a world where information comes fast, and companies appear and disappear in less than 5 years that we still design and make buildings as slowly as we did at the turn of the century. With the aid of prefabrication and industrial components, this studio will explore the myriad possibilities of building faster. How to make a quickly responding and flexible architecture whose first goal is to exist, fast. We will explore the possible advantages and discoveries to be made when a building first exists, then later responds to requirements such as programme, context or the user / visitor.

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New Models for Urbanity In this Studio we will examine a possibility for the development of the role of the modern architect as a strategist for Urbanity. Innovation in Architecture here will imply strategies for new modern building types (and the free space they enclose). In “The City in History”, Lewis Mumford described three factors which differentiated the city from a simple massing of buildings; these were the presence of Art, Culture and Political Purpose. The latent presence of these factors is palpable yet underexploited in the site we have chosen near the old central livestock market on the Viehmarktgasse. This is a neighbourhood in flux juxtaposing a small amount of low 19th century brick buildings, the muscular bull statues at the entrance gate, prefabricated 1950s concrete office bars in the process of destruction and new anonymous low lying starter office buildings. The Vienna Secession Fringe The Vienna Secession building provided rooms and built identity for the Vienna Secession movement in the late nineteenth century. Today in the 21st century this building and the movement associated with it have become as established and hierarchical as the group it first chose to break away from. The students are asked to design a Secession “fringe” building, one which will be so conceived as to continually accommodate fringe activities in art and culture. This building and the outside spaces it creates should also act as a binding and enlivening agent for the neighbourhood in which it is placed. This

neighbourhood is in flux as already stated and its built edges are far from defined or stable. The student is asked then not only to adapt to the existing situation but to create a building sensitive enough to morph and move with it. This obviously implies that the building should be easily dismantled and moved to another location within the near neighbourhood. The student may invent a whole new building type (indeed this is the aspiration) or indeed investigate how known UR-types, museum, market, speaking place can be adapted to provide new ways of living together in the city. Building Fast The students are asked to determine a building system and develop an assembly process which will sensitively provide these facilities very quickly. The first goal is to exist in the shortest amount of time, then adapt to fully accomplish the brief given. They should reflect on the areas of their projects where growth will be encouraged or allowed and where it is inadvisable and how both cases are to be implied or controlled. The same goes for the area in the buildings vicinity.

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Prefabrication and Materials The student should choose one principal material for their solution. The choice of form and montage process should be chosen in relationship to the characteristics of the material, e. g.: long thin planks of wood can be stacked while concrete will be influenced by its container. The use of existing industrial products is encouraged. The myriad possibilities for architecture in working with very simple forms and industrial products will be discussed and discovered. Studio Instructors Michelle Howard and Werner Skvara

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2.1.1 Marketa Brezovska Haus 01

“House.01”, the exhibition space for the Internet art, movement on the fringe, is based on the correlation between its real display and the virtual interface where it actually takes place. In the world dominated by the World Wide Web and fast information exchange we, surprisingly, still do build houses as slow as we did at the turn of the century. One of a few exceptions is a family house. One of such, made of prefabricated self-supporting sandwich panels of the K-Kontrol system can be erected by couple of men in just two days. The effort to simplify orientation in presenting the internet art on one hand and the fact that most of this art is being created from homes, on the other, has led to the specific spatial form for its exhibiting: a typical slope-roofed house, the archetype of home. In the “House.01” the virtual world meets the real one, thanks to their fast constructability they can exist simultaneously and separately at any time and any place.

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2.1.2 Robert Freudenberg Simple and Strong

Between sky and earth, surrounded by stones and covered with glass, a place for Art, simple and strong. Recycling the concrete of the demolished warehouses generates the basic material for the proposed exhibition hall. Huge gabions, consisting of stainless steel lattice boxes, originally used in civil engineering, were filled up with rubble to form 9 m high massive walls. A roof construction of prefabricated greenhouses, usually used by the amateur gardener, spans the interior exhibition space. The short sides of the building are closed by huge roller shutters, which can be opened to expand the exhibition to the outside area. The construction consciously uses a low level of climate control in contrast to the high tech exhibition space in museums. The combination of solid walls and the light structure of the greenhouses above creates a tension between two fundamental themes of architecture. On the one hand the forming of rooms by solid masonry, on the other the light construction of shells, columns and fabrics.

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2.1.3 Franz Kropatschek Pixellate

Pixelization is a digitalization or translation from information into several single elements which fit together through a code. The New Secession is a pixelization of the brief and choreography of the current access to the Secession. The code combines the pixel elements to a contemporary reproduction of the Secession. But the code is changeable on several layers: The borders change from sharp and enclosed to an indefinite threshold between inside and outside. The atmosphere becomes provocative through confrontation with the exterior whose appearance and interaction is controllable. The exhibition spaces are programmable in their size and light conditions as well as the organization of movement in the building. I used the MERO system which uses an intelligent metal node to connect transparent and translucent panels which the structure, but are removable. Different grades of transparency and positions of panels enable many spatial configurations for the pixelated structure.

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2.2 Spatial Interactivity II Connecting Spaces

Commentary by Barbara Campbell-Lange There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, Morning, boys. How’s the water? And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, What the hell is water? This Is Water by David Foster Wallace 2005 Teach­ing is a conversation, education its enigmatic remainder. In the undisciplined discipline of architecture awareness is raised, in part, by asking unanswerable questions. Disorientation disarms. The riddle can usefully invoke doubt and delay presupposition: it suspends assumption. If, therefore, one could remove or blur the received or assumed partitions between the visual, verbal and aural, divisions directed by technology, political collabo­ rations in architecture might be re-imagined and thereby re-formed. Many things shun categorisation. Rhythm, as a mode of prosody in architecture, is neither specifically auditory nor visual. It belongs to a form of punctuation or interruption that slips between and across several senses at once. What we think of as sound is not necessarily non-representational and work perceived with the eyes is not experienced solely as visual information. Image can become a platform on which language may appear just as language may be a stage for image. Thoughts on how sound can contain, and be con­tained, within the visual have been around for some time. Anglo Saxon riddles such as those in the Exeter Book, a detailed codex found in a cathedral library, mentally engage the highly soluble boundaries between sound and image. These rhythmical and alliterative texts are generally concerned with every day, common objects – the overlooked, unnoticed, understated and unstated – the animistic inanimate, some with double entendre. Unlike Latin riddles, Anglo Saxon riddles do not rely on obscurity. Instead their construction requires the close observation of double meanings or ‘hinge

words’ to reveal an answer, efficient and loose. These tenth century word inventions codify the con­cept of an object without using its name: oarsteed means ship. Kennings operate as riddles within the riddle itself and make a space where perception is only the beginning of an experience, not the definer of it. The weight and force of any material composition, such as architecture, affects the dynamic organisation of thought. The physical and metaphysical both cast shadows. The external world provides the objective correlative essential to the mind’s manifestation; movement plaits mimesis with diegesis in seeing, listening and uttering. In these early riddles, the rhythms, beats and caesura of their varying recitation structures compose an auditory architecture, making them a sort of spoken art. Since the religious scribes crammed the pages of the manuscript with hardly any organisation, bound­aries between riddles are at times liminal and translations coloured with a rich uncertainty of lexical registers. Yet the absent-present object of each riddle, be it ordinary or obscene, is descriptively preserved despite this decomposition together with the residue of its sound, in an architecture that exceeds its contexts. Not a single riddle found in the Exeter Book is accompanied by an answer. Some will remain unanswered.

The Spatial Spatial Interactivity Interactivity II

Connecting Spaces

Barbara Campbell-Lange is an architect and teaches at the AA in London (www.aaschool.ac.uk).

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Connecting Spaces Studio description

Connecting Spaces can imply both spaces that connect one room to the other and spaces which can promote communication. The studio studies the evolution of the corridor and the open plan space. It proposes that the corridor has the potential to connect people and spaces in ways more subtle than the celebrated “open” plan. In a society where analogue (!) social interaction is increasingly challenged by that of the digital we examined the power that Architectural space may have to effect this behaviour. Students modelled the connecting spaces as special entities, uncovering the potential connecting spaces have to become space generators. This semester we will be looking at connecting spaces, those spaces which would normally be deemed as circulation, left-over or in-between spaces. These so-called junk spaces will be reexamined for their potential for recycling into uses pertinent to the world we live in today. Thus we will be directing our energies and ideas towards the spaces connecting classrooms rather than the classroom as an independent nest-like module. We will examine how both spaces may cohabit and their possible interaction. We will study how issues of social-interaction and communication are linked to spatial perception and

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materiality and discover the constructive systems underpinning the ideas. We will also look at how many ex-junk spaces become especially important in terms of climate control and energy planning. At a moment when Europe is re-questioning its education system, once again, we as architects can contribute to the debate on how we can create better educational environments that stimulate a lifelong desire for learning. This semester’s design project for an urban education facility asks us to question, at once, the larger motives behind our education systems, the hierarchy, the classrooms, the big building types, and whether these are indeed outmoded structures, or do they still prove to be adequate? Design Methodology 1st Phase: Analysis of School Buildings / Connecting Spaces. The students will be expected to study one building (from a list) in depth. 2nd Phase: Making of sketches and sketch models of the connecting spaces important in a school for 14–18 year olds. The following are some of the questions which stem from the discussions and building analyses of the first phase. The interest of the cosy or domestic scale in a school for teenagers. The use of one large Atrium or gathering space as opposed to many smaller spaces.

The importance of the niche and places to be private. The importance of stability / temporality in the architecture of schools. Should a school be an institution or distance itself as much as possible from the home. How important is the “architecture” of the mall to the student psyche. The quality of light, the washing of light compared to the framed or designed qualities The school as Museum or canvas onto which the students project their personalities The school for all students as opposed to the school only for the extroverted or team Players. The School as solitaire sitting as an island in its setting or the school which fully inserts itself into its context. The school densely urban on many floors (and their connections) or the school spread on one floor with multiple opportunities to connect with Surroundings. The Transition space or spaces between inside and outside. The value of spaces which may not be used but are viewed. 3rd Phase: Getting Close to the Classroom. Here the classroom is studied in more detail and the boundary with the connecting spaces examined and questioned. The Students examine the classroom alone as a single entity and in smaller clusters of up to four classrooms with their related spaces. Models and sketches at a scale of 1/50 include finishings and furnishings. Spatial Interactivity II

4th Phase: A basic programme is issued for a prototypical school which includes 16 classrooms. The programme allows for the integration of one special “other” function or programme should the student find it important in the pursuance of their design. The project does not have a site although orientation is an important factor in the design; emphasis here is laid on the ideas of the students in regard to connecting spaces and the education of the 14–18 year old. Final Phase: Students formulate their design for the school as a whole. Studio instructors Michelle Howard and Christina Condak

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2.2.1 Martin Denk Connecting Cubes

The school is seen as an open space for interaction where the module-like classroom becomes the only solid element – it can connect, close or open space. Through stacking these solid elements a three dimensional continuous space is created which houses such functions as library, cafeteria, hang-out areas and schoolrooms for music, art, physics, chemistry and computers. Each classroom has its own level and terrace. These terraces form a spatial auditorium where people in the school can come together for such events as announcements, performance and celebrations. The gymnasium is lightly sunken to profit from the cooling of the earth and is open to the public. This project is conceived as a school prototype and can be implanted in different rural settings.

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2.2.2 Perrine Montfort The Way

I started to build my concept asking what a teenager is and what its needs are in term of space. Adolescence is a transition state between childhood and adulthood. During this period, the teenager is attempting to find and compose their own social identity. This way, teenagers need freedom, in order to be able to express their creativity. In the other hand, adolescence is an age of crisis and instability. Teens are extremely sensitive and fragile and therefore need a cosy and safe space in which they can find shelter. My concept relies on this ambivalence of needs and proposes a variety of spaces for a diversity of uses. The project aim is to provide spaces that can allow gathering or isolation, loudness or quietness and above all, creativity. The circulation space is creating a loop, in order to allow a variety of pathways. This loop is a “promenade” through the building and transforms the school into a landscape, offering a diversity of uses. The circulation space is completed by other spaces as the cafeteria, the free-time room, the auditorium, etc. and they form together the connecting spaces. The main interest is to connect different programs, without separating them but rather uniting them in a continuous and fluid connecting space. To create these sequences, small-scale tools such as curtains, shelves, benches or panels are also used. These soft connections between spaces can be modelled by the graduation of light, sound level and height.

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2.2.3 Lukas Pazmandy Atrium House

Today because of the development in our society which becomes faster and faster, not only locally but also globally, people live a life which becomes more and more stressful. This is especially a problem when it comes to activities were people want to focus on something and need to concentrate. This fact can cause big problems particularly in the development of children. Therefore in the project of this school building there should be a peaceful centre of tranquillity which serves as balance to daily life. These centres are represented in different types of atriums. Some are spaces which can only be viewed and others can be accessed. The atriums are the connecting spaces. They are not necessarily used for circulation or disconnection, but are indispensable as view-connections.

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2.2.4 Mechthild Weber Vertical Town Square

A public library is used as a market-place, much as the architect Thomas Herzog used the open classroom as town square, is simultaneously the core of the proposed school and opens up a normally introverted structure by layering permeability and circulation. The library functions as a vertical connection and gives graduated qualities of subspaces; sometimes purely visual, sometimes also accessible. The library allows the public to penetrate to the heart of the school and leads them through its diverse spaces. The loose and soft character breaks up the strong volume of the school and creates intimate spaces. This soft skin assumes many functions, at once furniture to sit on, and enclosure, skin to look through and veil to watch shadows passing by.

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2.3 Spatial Interactivity III The Audacity of Preservation

Commentary by Nasrine Seraji

make

Three Ecologies

observe

research

Nasrine Seraji is an architect and director of the ENSA Paris-Malaquais.

Commentary by Annett Zinsmeister I regard my work as research: it serves to the acquisition of knowledge and the visualization of unusual and overlooked details, of contradictions and unappreciated beauty, whether in the random, the serial, the ornamental, or the clichéd. Annett Zinsmeister is an architect and artist.

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The Audacity of Preservation BIG! BAD? MODERN

Fig. 1 Agent one, the AKH, system model made by students of the CMT studio, The Audacity of Preservation Fig. 2 Agent Two, the ORF, see portrait, system model made by students of the CMT studio, The Audacity of Preservation Fig. 3 Agent Three, Alterlaa, system model made by students of the CMT studio, The Audacity of Preservation Fig. 4 Agent Four, the WU, system model made by students of the CMT studio, The Audacity of Preservation

The Institute for Art and Architecture examined four “agents” of modernism in Vienna from the different thematic perspectives of the five design platforms: the AKH (The General Hospital), the Alterlaa housing estate, the ORF headquarters (Austrian National Broadcasting Corporation) and the WU (University of Economics) were selected. The first semester of this academic year was dedicated to fact gathering and research, the second to design proposals. Here we present the response of the CMT platform.

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The Audacity of Preservation Studio description

Much more than just daring to preserve post-war architecture this studio attempted to reveal just how audacious or exciting a decision to take a second look at these buildings can be. Thus if we have the audacity to preserve renovate and transform the maligned elements of our architectural surroundings we may get more than they planned. We looked at our 4 case-studies comparing the intentions and ideals behind them to that of the current context. Some aspects which had great value at the time have either endured or been disproved, while others may only reveal their real potential when seen in the light of current discourse. We asked: How can we make interventions which can tread lightly and yet transform utterly? Why Vienna? According to the historian Tony Judt in his book entitled Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945: Vienna is “a palimpsest of Europe’s complicated overlapping pasts… A good place from which to “Think” Europe. Austria embodied all the slightly self-satisfied attributes of post-war Western Europe: capitalist prosperity underpinned by a richly endowed welfare state; social peace guaranteed thanks to jobs and perks liberally distributed through all the main social groups and political parties… Number 5 Schwarzenbergplatz Number 5 Schwarzenbergplatz in Vienna is typical of many facets of Viennese politics & city planning after the two world wars and representative of the same practices throughout Europe. In 1938 the land and the Apartment house on it were “Aryanised”, and NSDAP became its owners. The Apartment house was destroyed during the war and Republic became owner of the Land. It was then restituted to its former owners in 1947 who in turn sold it in 1954 to the SteyrDaimler-Puch AG which then built an apartment house for its employees on that site in 1958. The house and land which had become a prime location were sold in 2004 to the investors Breiteneder who 124

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Fig. 1/2/3 Number 5 Schwarzenbergplatz in 1939, 1970 and 2014

swiftly demolished it and replaced it with a construction not very dissimilar its predecessors.

London. This example begs the question: How long does a building representing an idea about architecture to which we are not accustomed need to exist before it can be fairly appraised?

Fair Appraisal for Post-war Architecture: Many buildings of the immediate post-war period even the most prestigious faced a time in the 1980’s & 1990’s especially when they were strongly criticised and thus marked for destruction. Until recently they were synonymous with all that is bad about modernist planning and design, whether it had to do with their size, their aesthetics, their floor plans or the materials used to construct them. The lucky ones managed to weather these periods and even find new enthusiasm from a population which had had the time to adjust to them. Take for example the Royal Festival Hall erected on the banks of the Thames River in London for the Festival of Britain in 1951. The Festival was an attempt to give Britons a feeling of recovery and progress and to promote better-quality design in the rebuilding of British towns and cities following the war. It was joined in 1967 by the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room the Hayward 1968 and became The Southbank. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s the buildings looked in on themselves, embracing neither their riverside location nor their proximity to each other. The decline of the Southbank Centre as it was now called started on the 1980s and reached a peak in the 1990’s, the buildings were not maintained and thus the mainly brutalist concrete elements became darker and grimier and shoddier. Its decline was blamed on its architecture rather than such important factors as urban planning, transport connections and maintenance. It was only in 2002 with the election of a new chairman that a concerted effort was made to renovate the centre and give it an identity as an ensemble. They realized they had to ensure that the fragmented site was connected back together again and its connection to the river and the city strengthened. It is today in 2010 one of the best-loved and most visited centres of culture in

Looseness and Modernism Among the questions we would like to address this semester is that of the loose space versus the tailormade. By the tailor-made we mean the specifically planned spatial and surface area arrangements and the practice of such planning especially with regard to those buildings of the post-war period. This sort of space can define much of modern architecture and is based on a deterministic coincidence between form and program. Excess height, width and space were eliminated and reduced to the essential as defined by their principles. The concept of what was essential applied primarily to calculable cubic area. Of course one can rightfully argue that this reduction to the essential was based on the overriding necessity of providing adequate space at a fair price for a large population left homeless after the utter destruction meted on cities and towns by the two world wars in Europe. Not only was there pressure to build enormous amount of homes but also to build them in a very short time and extremely cheaply. Much of Europe was simultaneously homeless and at a period when their governments had been bankrupted by the war effort. Planning was concentrated on the goal of creating the largest amount of homes in the smallest measure of space and time. Endurance in ideas, materials and spaces were not primary factors or at least only implemented if they did not slow down the process or incur extra costs. Another essential element to postwar construction is that it benefitted from enormous technical developments which had arisen through research and development powered by the war effort. This was especially true when applied to the aviation industry and advances in the smelting and working of metals especially aluminium. After the war there

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Fig. 4 The Festival of Britain 1951, postcard with the Royal Festival Hall in the Background Fig. 5 The Festival of Britain 1951, postcard showing the separated throughways for cars, boats and people. Fig. 6 The Royal Festival Hall in 1980 – Copyright Mike Lidgely Fig. 7 The Southbank in 2014

were suddenly many large factories and hangars built to construct aeroplanes, artillery and armaments which were now redundant, their employees jobless. These establishments urgently needed to find other applications for their technologies and know-how. The large scale of the war operations meant that these factories were equipped for tasks on the large scale. Not for them the bothersome business of the one-off small scale construction. Such circumstances provided the perfect fertile sowing grounds for the development and construction of prefabricated construction. The postwar period provided the enthusiasts of prefabrication with the perfect laboratories in the form of factories and the perfect clients in the form of Governments. The facilities demand and know-how were there for the asking and circumstances which would never again be so propitious.

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Looseness and Sustainability Looseness can imply larger or more generous spaces than those absolutely necessary and also spaces which are unspecific in their functional possibilities. But looseness is also an important consideration when applied to aspects other than pure surface area, for example spatiality and materiality. We shall also explore the possibilities for looseness in our attitudes towards sustainability. Now that the heady days where the question of sustainability was debated and argued over have passed and the public at large has accepted its importance. Now that methods and ideas associated with sustainability have become dogma, it is time open the debate anew as to how to sustainably transform our existing environment. We will be especially critical of those methods, materials and ideas which, in order to function well entail hiding or burying refined qualities like detailing, space and materiality under thick layers be it insulation, energy collecting devices or “design”.

We are already starting to see the first “energetic renovations”, themselves badly maintained become the targets for renovation themselves. Very often this can result in much larger wastage of energy that that saved in the first renovation. This is especially true when a building has been thickly coated with products unsuited to recycling.

Fig. 8/9 Covered and uncovered

Is Sustainability the successor Dogma to Modernism? We will search for a less hysterical and dogmatic route to sustainability in the built environment. Just as modernism (after the heady days of the postwar period have passed) has proven itself both fallible and valuable upon fair appraisal so too surely will sustainability as it is conceived today. Studio instructors Michelle Howard and Christian Fröhlich

Fig. 10 BIG! BAD? MODERN: Exhibition in the Semper Depot with the 4 Agents in the background

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2.3.1 Laurenz Berger Grasping Character, Introducing Looseness

Within this idealistic framework my project is concerned with two different but related fields of investigation: Firstly to attempt to reveal the character of the building – that is to trigger an intuitive understanding and comparison of ORF and WU by the viewer through the graphic juxtaposition of a series of different kinds of spaces chosen through their functional connections. This revelation is achieved by drawings which represent the chosen spaces at exactly the same viewpoint and in the same way. This method is intended to be a highly precise, conscious and targeted means of representation yet a very sober and neutral one. The viewer should be enabled thus to perceive these spaces more objectively. Secondly, I pursued the idea of looseness: As discussed in studio, the loose space constitutes a place which is larger and more generous than its function would require it to be or initially unspecific in use. Looseness is stated to be a worthwhile and desirable quality in architecture especially if the building is to survive many renovations refurbishments and changes of use. Enabling the public and the user to perceive the existence of these qualities within the ORF and the WU could therefore become an argument for their preservation.

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2.3.2 Märtins Duselis Just Enough Light

I determined to use the subtlest of means in order to alter our perception of the University of Economics, that is with light. I was fascinated by the paradox that his building is completely encased in a glass skin althrough it is lit by artificial fluorescent light. This artificial fluorescent light is so all pervading, intense and invasive that it is impossible to perceive whether the building actually receives or could profit from any natural light or not. On closer study it was revealed that the glazed skin was coated with a metallic coating which effectively not only prevented overheating but also the ingress of light. I chose to make a scientific study of the light con­ditions within the building hoping to reveal new possibilities for perception of its spaces. The first diagrams show the current condition and lux levels with artificial light. The second diagrams show its condition if the lights were turned off, simulated since permission to actually turn them off was denied. The third diagram shows the condition if the current glazing were simply replaced with modern heat control glazing which allows a large amount of light through. Suddenly in many spaces the building is bathed in light and is sensitive to its climate and surroundings. The accompanying film expresses my frustration at a life dominated by fluorescent lighting and is filmed in one of the windowless seminar rooms of the University of Economics.

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2.3.3 Barbara Weber The Well-Tempered Environment of The University of Economics

In order to find out whether big and modern are bad, I tried to dismantle the complexity of the mega structure of the University of Economics by focusing on one of its major elements: the climatic unit. Consisting of fluorescents, solar-reflective windows, nozzles for air-conditioning and fan coil units; this element or module creates the so-called welltempered environment of the WU. While investigating this unit on a large scale, I asked the following questions: Do all of those interventions truly create a well-tempered environment? Should we rather speak of the audacity of air-conditioning if an infinite number of nozzles deny the possibility of air exchange through open windows? How do hollowed fan coil units suit the honesty of modern architecture? Can the climatic problems of mega structures simply be solved through sufficient mechanical interventions?

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2.3.4 Christopher Ghouse Continuous Change

My project makes a connection between these two buildings and the ideas of the architects who conceived them. In 1972 Kurt Hlaweniczka, the architect of the University of Economics had drawn up an assessment of an existing, required & future needs on behalf of its trustees His findings were printed in the report: “hochschule für welthandel – wirtschaftsuniversität wien // grundlagen und projektstudie”. These results formed the basis of his concept for the site. They argued that a constant change in teaching makes it necessary to pay special attention to external and internal flexibility; in drawing up the plans the subject should consider that the building will be exposed to a constant change. This notion of a building which is subject to continuous change, I chose to examine in dealing subsequently with the ORF media centre by the architect Roland Rainer in conjunction with his concept of the building as an organism. In order to facilitate this study which was subject to many a to and from between spatial ideas, I chose to use the tool of a mind map. I could thus show the connections my investigation had lead me to as well as the new references they revealed. It was the intention to determine to what degree the thoughts of RR on architecture could serve as a guideline in the intelligent preservation of his work.

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2.3.5 Peter Jakowitsch Modern Tourism

I was particularly attracted to the University of Economics because arriving there for the first time, I had immediately scenes of the Star Wars movies in my mind. Both, the WU and Star Wars movies are from the same period between 1976 and 1983. I tried to compare chosen moments of the old Star Wars episodes with situations that I have found at the Wu building and worked with the similar method of a movie. Dissolving those images and editing them together showed a surprisingly sometimes comically identical outcome. The striking analogies of the shown images were a evidence that this comparison between the WU and Star Wars is strongly connected with the main theme of this year’s course of modernism and post-war architecture. Altering the building by altering just the way you look at it may seem like the easiest answer but what should be the consequence and how can a complex like the WU survive? With the help of a series of photographs taken from the building as if it were something precious and worthy of conservation and tried to capture the building in its current situation but lovingly and with great respect. How much of how we perceive buildings to be is connected with actual values and how much is connected with the fashions of our time. Could this be another case of the Emperor’s New Clothes?

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2.3.6 Miriam Pollak Connecting Spaces

This research project deals directly with the ques­tion of how to transform our perception of some elements of post-war architecture, here the ORF media centre by celebrated Austrian architect Roland Rainer. It encourages us to tread lightly with these buildings seeking their transformation with the subtlest of interventions rather than with ill-considered face jobs or worse still, destruction. In order to shake the buildings up and test them more thoroughly we were asked to assume that a University of Economics like the WU was to move into the ORF media centre. I had been captivated by the generous cir­culation spaces in the WU which were conducive to communication and of great importance in an educational establishment; spaces which not only con­nect rooms but connect people, ideas and modes of work. This space should offer and initiate all kinds of movement through it, it should not have borders like locked doors and closed rooms. For me if the ORF was to become an educational estab­lishment it would have to provide such spaces and I set out to discover whether they could be brought into existence. I examined closely the possibilities within the ORF and discovered that great potential existed especially in the workshop spaces but most surprising of all in small elements such as well-placed doors in office rooms which provided alter- native routes and uses to the corridors. The more closely I looked the more it became clear to me that the poten tial for such connecting spaces could be unlocked in the most banal of buildings thus completely transforming them and the way they are used. The here offered alphabet could be a first step in gaining knowledge about how to use and how to design connecting spaces.

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2.3.7 Maximilian Weidacher Lonely Platforms

It all started with the notion of this lonely platform hovering above the ground. In other words visiting the University of Economics for the very first time its contextual detachedness was more striking than anything else to me. This modernist’s strategy of a vertically organised city (where pedestrians are separated from vehicular traffic) seemed to generate the same conflict wherever it has been realised. This urban aloofness was iterated in our visits of like buildings in Paris and Berlin: What seems to be connected in plan, turns out to be false in section. A building which seems nearly definitely to have only been conceived in plan produces through the platform a sectional complexity. I attempted to describe in the subtlest of drawings each of WU’s layers in detail thus pointing out the malfunctions but at the same time revealing the complex potential.

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2.4 Spatial Interactivity IV The Efficiency of Looseness

Commentary by Shelley McNamara I was fascinated by the programme and the way that this programme really challenged the students. The idea of taking four ‘modernist mega structures’, analysing them in terms of their perception by the public both at the time they were built, and their perceived current redundancy now, finding the core or heart of the building, in terms of spatial order and construction reality, and making a ‘modest’ intervention which would energise and re-position these buildings within the culture of architecture, was really impressive. In my own work, and as a teacher, I am becoming more and more convinced, that a ‘linear’ programme, should be or could be a nonlinear one, or even more, a series of parallel experiments. I am always fascinated when we ask students to ‘imagine’, in advance of the research and observe stage, how incisive their first sketch can be, and can stand there as a catalyst for the entire project! The nature of the creative process keeps us all on our toes and we somehow have to allow the student to mix the precise and the random, the rational and the intuitive. Shelley McNamara is a principal of Grafton Architects (www.graftonarchitects.ie).

Commentary by Martin Lechner The success of a complex project is based on a symbiosis of all relevant parties and processes. The main parties in our field of work are the client, the architect and a large number of suppliers. Major processes are sales, project management, design, procurement, fabrication, quality control, installation and commissioning. The design management very often turns out to be the spider in the web. A constant control loop on all parties and processes must be kept in order to develop a successful design covering all arising changes. Engineer and Technical Director of Waagner-Biro Stahlbau (www.waagner-biro.com).

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The Efficiency of Looseness Studio description

so much time to plan a project and then so much time to realise it. Many contemporary buildings, planned to efficiently cater to the needs of the user at its time of conception, are outdated even before they have been completed. With this in mind we will investigate the possibilities of an alternative idea of efficiency: that of an efficiency which, through admitting the limits of planning, increases the lifespan of buildings; the efficiency of looseness.

The Agent In the CMT project this semester we propose that the new efficiency in Architecture is not flexibility but looseness. Our Agent is the ORF building in the The students learned to really know the Construction Küniglberg; a building which of all of our agents Materials and Technology of the ORF building by may be that whose design has most closely adhered the Architect Roland Rainer. To test its looseness we to the original tenets of modernist ideas. asked the students to experiment with inserting The aim of the ORF was efficient production – just as a small new media school into the building without goods in the factory so were the thoughts for radio, television and communication. It is a tailor-made disturbing the functioning of the ORF. It should be building and a prototype, the result of close cooperlike the insertion of a benign organism into a body ation between the then all-powerful, director of the which will, in time become an inherent part of it. ORF, Gerd Bacher, and the already well known ArchiCould the ORF simply absorb a foreign body in this tect, Roland Rainer. Planning began in the 1960’s way? and it was built between 1969 and 1976. The Media “Perhaps the most important and least recognized difference between traditional [1882] and contempo- we know today has metamorphosed into something rary architecture is revealed in the way a hypermonu- which would be unrecognisable to even the most forward thinking of planners of the 60’s and 70’s. mental, space-wasting building like the Arnhem panopticon proves flexible, while modern architec- Can this building absorb this metamorphosis? ture is based on a deterministic coincidence beThe Premise tween form and program, its purpose no longer an The ORF wants to move out of its quarters in the abstraction like „moral improvement“ but a literal Küniglberg. The reasons for this move are manifold inventory of all the details of daily life. Flexibility but fuzzy: ranging from complaints that the building is not the exhaustive anticipation of all possible is not sufficiently insulated to today’s standards, changes. Most changes are unpredictable.” Rem and that its current status as a historic monument Koolhaas in his essay; Project for the Renovation prevents any intervention; that the building cannot of a Panopticon Prison (1981). adapt to current requirements; that it is too far away from the centre of Vienna, to complaints that the In the world today, the only thing we can be sure of building itself is too large with too many facilities, is change. Architecture is probably the profession most challenged by this development, since it takes too many studios and too many overheads. In order to gain a perspective on these complaints we will insert a small foreign body in the guise of a new media school into this organism and look closely at it during this process to see how it fares. A Loose Programme for a Media School The proposed media school will occupy some 4,000 of the total 270,000m2 through the sharing of underused facilities. This nestling of much smaller, related, but independent entities, within the confines of such a large building complex (Itself comprising of many entities), will require us to look more closely at how the building functions, especially related to Costruction, Materials and Technology.

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Heart and Attraction of the New Media School is their access to the largest TV studio (1,500m2 and 18m high), the element which the ORF claim to be just too big to be in constant use within their current configuration. We will operate on the premise that the school will have access to this studio for one month per semester. How the School and the ORF behave in these different periods regarding function, separation and connection are essential elements of the studio. Look Closely Far from proposing a new vision of the ORF this studio intends to look closely at the building itself to discover the potential that is already there. Central to our project in CMT this semester is the ORF building itself. The students are asked to build upon their research and those of other students in order to obtain a clear understanding of the existing building, its construction, materials and technology. The Audacity of Preservation We also, again, as in last semester, ask the students to consider only interventions which will contribute to the very real qualities they have discovered in this building. Thus, adding without extinguishing. Layers should be obvious rather than hidden, additions expressed as such. Studio instructors Michelle Howard and Christian Fröhlich Spatial Interactivity IV

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2.4.1 Matthias Brandmaier Vertical Looseness

My research into the dimensions of the biggest

TV-Studios in some European countries showed that the main studio of the ORF Kuniglberg is by far the

highest (20 m in comparison to the next highest of 14.75 m). This newly discovered superfluous volume is the main element of my proposal and houses the New Media School in its entirety. While new spaces which don’t need any sunlight will be placed inside the studio below the ceiling and natural lighted workspaces above on the roof, the existing studio operations of the ORF are not only untouched but enhanced. The planned intervention improves the climatic situation of the TV-Studio enormously by reducing the volume which has to be heated and cooled: An efficient and customised ventilation system adapted to this reduced space also improves the acoustic conditions for the audience and the performers. The main access to the school will be provided through an external circulation shaft rendered obso­lete by the intervention and can be reached through the existing visitors’ entrance providing an independent yet visible access to the ‘New Media School’. In fact, the ‘New Media School’ and the ORF will work independently with the ability to create a symbiosis if needed, while the school’s prominent location on top of the studio tower provides a clear identity.

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2.4.2 Tina Wintersteiger On Air

The ORF building presents itself as a grown ag­glo­ meration of many different buildings without one readable cohesive form. Besides all the typologies of outdoor leisure spaces occurring throughout the building, the tall TV studios sticking out of the main two-story basis of the complex seem to coincidentally define additional outdoor corridors and atria on the roof. This multifaceted roofscape happens to be almost at the same height as the technical gal­leries inside the studios. Rather than apportioning the existing space to either the ORF or the school – which would negate the great potentials of two such tenants sharing a building – I’ve been working on solutions of joint use. Just like the building complex is fragmented, my project consists of a serious of responses to each of those fragments on how to introduce another user to a specific space with minimal intervention. This collection of ideas includes the extension of studio 3’s platform to hold seminars and lectures, the partial introduction of an additional level in the preparation hall as working spaces, the dissolution of the fixed boundaries of studio 5, the insertion of an auditorium in the sluice of the TV theatre, the installation of cutting rooms at the highest platform in the TV theatre and the creation of an exhibition pavilion on the roof. Through a careful survey of the chosen area I was able to work with the existent, to shift elements to create new meaning, to let pieces reoccur, to reduce the amount of brought-in structure. No tracks of my interventions are covered, additions follow similar construction principles but clearly differ from the existent.

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2.4.3 Christoph Edler Cutting Transitions

The ORF as Austria’s biggest media producer has already had to face cataclysmic changes in edia since its inception in the 60’s, and even now has to prepare itself constantly to keep abreast of further developments. The benefits of such an intervention are clear for the students, they will learn about media at the heart of actual media production. But the absorption of media school within the ORF will also enable that large company to be a lot more proactive in the development of media. Rather than just keeping abreast of further developments the presence of the school can enable the ORF to anticipate and create. My work focuses on the interaction between the Media School and the ORF and demonstrates how they can function both separately and together. I have looked closely at and tried to negotiate the fine line between the advantages of shared facilities and the security and strategic problems this entails.

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2.4.4 Jana Sipulova Undesired Solitude

If you want to dissect the ORF, you must first cut the skin. From the very beginning, I was astonished by the giant wall, which surrounds and thus isolates the entire area of the building complex. There are only three gates. To access the main entry level one has to follow a 120 meter long car ramp designed without the pedestrian in mind. The most critical paradoxes occur in the space between the wall and ORF where valuable unused loose spaces lie. This wall did not exist in the original plans but its construction was perhaps justified when the ORF was a monolith. However with the arrival of the New Media School, the complex should rethink its relationship to its surroundings and render the wall porous. The location I have chosen for a first break in the wall is at the unused newsroom and is particularly aus-picious because it exploits a connection to such semi-public rooms as the restaurant, café and terrace, entry for visitors and last but not least the biggest Studio 1 for TV shows. The new program uses the full potential of the previous blind spot by opening it up and creating a new entry area directly from the street level. The New Media School is used as a tool to connect the ORF with its environs.

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2.4.5 Elisabeth Zeininger Loose Hub

The ORF is a complex of buildings rather than a single entity and has a quite fragmented structure. It grew over time and went through many adaptations and changes. My main interest is in the in-between spaces; these are the left-over spaces formed by the big elements, like the studios and workshop-halls. In a way similar to veins, they course through the building serving as leisure and circulation spaces. It is my aim to connect and underline the continuity of these spaces. The area I have chosen for my intervention has become a hub for the big studio, the workshop halls, the garden, and has a straight connection to the main entrance. The insertion of a second centre (main space of the media school) reactivates this axis and attracts attention to the unknown hinterland of the ORF. The intervention combines the insertion of a large gathering space clearly differentiated from the existing building and the revelation of previously undiscovered connections. A new vertical element challenges the mainly horizontal circulation. It provides the visitor with a different perspective on the building bringing them closer to the construction and creates access to the unused roof landscape. By the careful elimination of some walls and floors of the existing structure, spatially different rooms are suddenly connected both visually and tangibly, a corridor which previously led nowhere now connects 2 generous entrance spaces.

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Material Interactivity

These projects explore how the shaping and forming of materials influence the shape and form of our built environment through the constructions and technologies developed to fabricate them. In the case of some materials we have not even skimmed the construction possibilities inherent in them. As the methods of fabrication change new chances arrive for architecture. We are not intent on solely looking forward in respect to materials and fabrication, older methods and points of view which have not been fully appreciated are also observed and reassessed.

Peter Bauer ROM – Eine Abrechnung

Einleitung Forschen und Beobachten sind wichtige Teile innerhalb des Prozesses, die Erfindungen bei Bauwerken – die wir immer machen (müssen) – zu einem sicheren Produkt zu führen. Unsere Bauwerke sind in aller Regel Prototypen, von denen im Gegensatz zum klassischen Prototyp erwartet wird, dass sie schon beim ersten Mal (also nach der Eröffnung) reibungslos funktionieren. Aus der Sicht üblicher Risikostrategien müsste dieser Anspruch zu extremer Standardisierung der Bauwerke bzw. ihrer Elemente führen. Dies war baugeschichtlich auch der Fall, ging aber mit der Entwicklung der technischen Ansprüche bzw. Möglichkeiten weitgehend

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Abb. 1 Vorlesungsbeispiel Zugband­brücke, parametrisierte Stützenneigungen und Anschluss­niveaus unter Beachtung der maximalen Stei­gungsverhältnisse auf der Brücke, des notwendigen seitlichen Lichtraums und Freiboards unter der Brücke

verloren – man vergleiche z. B. die Anzahl der Detaillösungen der Wiener Gründerzeit für gesamte Stadtviertel mit den Lösungen, die heutzutage für ein normgerechtes Einfamilienhaus entwickelt werden müssen. Dies ist vor allem eine Konsequenz der Trennung von Funktionen in ver­schiedene Bauteile und scheint mit der Trennung der technischen Wissenschaften und der Architektur parallel zu gehen: je mehr Spezialisten, desto mehr Ansprüche und Wissen, desto mehr Bauteile. Dies gilt selbstverständlich auch für die tragenden Bauteile von Gebäuden. Sie sollen den Entwurfsgedanken unterstützen, ihn im besten Fall weiterentwickeln helfen, aber gleichzeitig wirtschaftlich, zuverlässig, robust und nachhaltig sein. Am Ende soll dann kein Nebeneinander von Einzellösungen stehen, sondern ein Ganzes, eine Einheit, die wie schon erwähnt in der Regel als Prototyp errichtet wird. Damit dieser Prozess funktionieren kann, müssen die beteiligten „Erfinder“ an den Schnittstellen ihrer Wissensgebiete kommunizieren können. Das dafür notwendige semantische Verständnis und die Grammatik zu entwickeln, Fragestellungen disziplinübergreifend überhaupt verstehen zu können, ist Aufgabe der Ausbildung. Dafür ist die Vermittlung von Handwerkszeug, das die Grundlagen des Verstehens schafft, genauso wichtig wie die Aneignung von Methoden zum Wissenserwerb selbst – gerade in einem so anspruchsvollen, weiten Gebiet, wie es das „Bauen“ darstellt.

Abb. 2 Ergebnisse verschiedener Parameterstudien

Forschen durch Beobachten Forschen durch Beobachten ist eine gute Möglichkeit, Sachverhalte intuitiv zu erfahren. Die dadurch geweckte Neugier ist hilfreich, um sich Wissen anzueignen und Verständnis zu entwickeln. Dabei ist es wichtig, eine Kultur des Zuhörens, des Zuschauens, des Zulassens zu kultivieren – sonst kommt kaum Neues auf, oder wenn neu, dann doch nur sehr eindimensional. Material Interactivity

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Naturgemäß sind bei Gebäuden reale Simulationen, die Beobachtung ermöglichen, schwierig. Selbst bei real vorhandenen „Settings“, also Strukturen, die der Aufgabe nahekommen und als Studienobjekte lohnen, ist es schwierig oder unmöglich, Randbedingungen so zu variieren, dass extreme Lösungen – denn dort ist der Lerneffekt am größten – studiert werden können. Schließlich erfüllt die bestehende Struktur, das bestehende Gebäude üblicherweise einen realen Zweck, der auch kurzfristig nicht verloren gehen darf – abgesehen davon, dass reale Simulationen einen hohen Einsatz an wirtschaftlichen Mitteln bedürfen. Die Abbildungen zeigen Computersimulationen als ein sehr geeignetes Mittel, um diesem Forschen zum Durchbruch zu verhelfen: von Tages­ lichtsimulationen, die in „Echtzeit“ auf beliebig parametrisierte Strukturen anwendbar sind, bis hin zum Tragwerksdesign unter mehrparametrischen Optimierungskriterien. Abb. 1 Und nicht nur die Ergebnisse können begutachtet werden, auch eine fast unzählige Menge an Daten lässt sich an jedem Forschungspunkt erfassen und für spätere Vergleiche ablegen – selbstverständlich auch in grafischen Darstellungen. Abb. 2 Erkennen und Bewerten Der Preis solch hervorragender Hilfsmittel ist die hohe Anforderung an den Auswählenden. Durch die rasche Variation von Lösungsfeldern ist der Zwang zur Wichtung und Wertung der Entwurfsparameter besonders hoch. Es gibt eben nicht mehr nur eine, meist mühsam im Streit mit Experten errungene Lösung, sondern viele, fast gleichwertige – wie man es eben „sieht“. Ein Kriterium, Lösungen zu beurteilen, könnte mit „so einfach wie möglich“ beschrieben werden. Wobei hier das Minimum der inneren Energie, die eine mögliche Tragwerkstruktur benötigt, um die Einwirkungen zu bewältigen, genau so ein Kriterium sein kann wie kostengünstige Materialien und Bauteile oder kurze Bauzeiten. Abb. 3 In einem Umfeld, in dem immer mehr Aufgaben vorliegen, die mit real vorgegebenen Strukturen umgehen, sie adaptieren oder ergänzen sollen, könnte eine weitere Beurteilung nach dem Prinzip „Nutzen statt Zerstören“ vorgenommen werden. Bei alledem bleibt dem Forscher immer noch ein erhebliches Maß an Freiheit in der Auswahl. Er bestimmt die Grenzen seines Interesses, seiner Forschung.Abb. 4a–4c Anhand ausgeführter Projekte lassen sich Beurteilungskriterien und ihre Aussagekraft überprüfen. So zeigt sich bei näherer Betrachtung, dass es gar nicht einfach ist, den Begriff Leichtbau zu verwenden: Ist er doch in 160

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Abb. 3 Ergebnis unter Berücksichtigung des Prinzips vom Minimum der potenziellen Energie

Abb. 4a Analyse einer bestehenden Brückenkonstruktion – Buckelbrücke Abb. 4b Analyse einer bestehenden Brückenkonstruktion – Bogenbrücke Abb. 4c Studentenprojekt – Holzstapel­ brücke

den meisten Fällen von der Wahl der Betrachtungsgrenzen und der -perspektive abhängig. Die Anmutung der nach einem wunderbaren Prinzip beweglichen Hängebrücke Abb. 4a ist elegant und leicht. Dies wird für die Massenbilanz unter Berücksichtigung der notwendigen Betonverankerungen zur Aufnahme der Seilkräfte eben dort, wo das Seil endet, nicht mehr unbedingt gelten, wenn man sie aus dieser Perspektive mit simpleren Tragwerken vergleichen möchte. Die Holzstapelbrücke, Abb. 4c hervorgegangen aus einer Studentenarbeit am Institut, besticht hingegen nicht durch die Verwendung von wenig Material, sondern geradezu mit dem Gegenteil. Es wird aber nicht verschwendet, sondern auf natürliche Weise, mit sparsamen Ergänzungen durch einfachste Verbindungsmittel, sehr gut montierbar und wieder demontierbar und damit nachhaltig eingesetzt – auch eine Art der Leichtigkeit. Gute Forscher wissen um ihre Grenzen und die ihrer Begriffe. Sie zu erkennen lernen, ist auch Aufgabe der Ausbildung. Abb. 5a Leichtbau: Optimierung Materialverbrauch Abb 5b Leichtbau: Systemgrenzen?

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3.1 Material Interactivity I Landscape Una[Bridge]d

Commentary by Hans Frey Construction Aware Design Thinking – it is our observation that making a structure/a building ultimately happen often involves lengthy procurement processes throughout which a concept has to sustain many transformations. Thinking beyond scope boundaries and considering the respective construction environment early on helps delivering a successful project. Hans Frey is an Engineer and Head of sales at Waagner-Biro Stahlbau (www.waagner-biro.com).

Commentary by Inge Andritz Research – Observe – Make indicates … … to inhale the atmosphere of the topos and the longings of those living in, as well as to respect/protect the most precious situations letting them be untouched. … to develop typologies that fit into context, sphere and conditions of the site appropriate to effort, gesture and scale. … to point out the essence – with the instruments of time and the vision of timelessness. Inge Andritz is an architect and teacher at the Technical University, Vienna.

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Landscape Una[Bridge]d Studio description

What we assume today to be “natural” landscape can most often reveal itself to have been touched and moulded by man at some point in its history, from complete transformation to the smallest adjustment. Our project this semester is situated in Lower Austria in an area of outstanding natural beauty. Yet even here the pristine lake in its natural setting turns out to be a reservoir used primarily for the generation of electricity. The students designed a footbridge at point chosen by them which crosses the river Ötscher. This river of almost transparent water runs through breathtaking terrain, its valley wide in some parts and narrowing considerably at the Ötschergraben. Care must be taken as to the usage patterns of the area where the proposed placement and type of footbridge will contribute to its existing qualities. The span will be determined by the terrain, a large span in the less sensitive points or a small span in the points of greatest aesthetic compromise?

The sensitivity of the existing terrain demands that any proposed structure involve as little excavation and remodelling as possible. Embodied energy is important when considering the proposed structure; what in the end is kinder to this environment, transporting specialised woods from the other side of the world or using concrete which is manufactured 2 km from the site?

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Schedule In this semester structural know-how is at the foreground and for this reason, Peter Bauer, the engineer on the CMT platform cooperated much more intensely with us all through the design process. We started by studying the most important bridge systems very closely. Each student chose a bridge system and modelled it both in an analogue way and digitally.

Project presentation a) produce an analogue model of the system / bridge in 1 : 50 scale b) model the system / bridge in a cad simulator (grasshopper) c) produce an A1 poster summarising the research and discoveries List of reference projects 1. Betonbogenbrücke / concrete arch bridge Salginatobel Bridge (1929 – 1930), Robert Maillart, Yangzhou Footbridge, China (2010) 2. Hängebrücke / suspension bridge Humpback Bridge, Duisburg (1999), Schlaich /Jaeschke & Preuss 3. Zugbandbrücke /stress-ribbon bridge Via Mala Pedestrian Bridge (2010), Jürg Conzett 4. Betonplattenbrücke /concrete slab bridge Dorfbrücke in Vals (2010), Jürg Conzett

5. Sprengwerk /strutted frame bridge Dala Gorge Bridge, Leuk, Valais, Switzerland (1991), Zumofen und Glenz 6. Stahlbogenbrücke /steel arch bridge Passerelle Solferino, Paris (1999), Marc Mimram 7. Eingehauste Brücke (Holzfachwerkbrücke) / covered bridge (Truss Bridge) Guilford Vermont Bridge (Lattice Truss), Columbia, Covered Bridge (Howe Truss) 8. Stahlfachwerkbrücke /steel-trusswork bridge Brick Pit Ring Walk, Sydney Olympic Park (2005), Durbach Block Architects 9. Balkenbrücke /beam bridge Bridge at Bassano del Grappa Ponte degli Alpini (1569), Palladio Underwater Bridge 10. Ziegelgewölbebrücke/masonry arch bridge Masonry Bridges of the Safavid dynasty, Pol e Shahrestan (12th Century) 11. Rollbrücke /rolling bridge Rolling bridge London (2004), Heatherwick Studio Studio instructors Michelle Howard and Christian Fröhlich

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3.1.1 Teresa Traunsteiner Mind the Gaps

We were asked to design a new bridge, which would act both as a method of crossing the lake and a tourist magnet, at the Erlaufstausee close to the rural community of Mitterbach in Lower Austria. My concept is to keep the existing bridge with its vegetation on the old deck as it is and allow planting of more plants and trees. The new construction is connected to the abutments of the old pylons via new wooden struts. It starts to one side of the bridge and sits parallel to it leaving a very small gap. At the point where the view to the Ötscher mountain reveals itself the new bridge crosses the old, creating a large area to stop and rest, and then continues on the other side parallel to the old bridge until it reaches the banks of the lake. This enables a closer relationship between the new and old bridge. The footbridge has a mild inclination, the gaps in the wooden deck (parallel mounted wood planks) allow light to pass through and show the wooden struts which hold the new deck underneath. The aluminium panels on top protect the wood against wear and fold to form a handrail and correspond to the design of the wooden deck with similar gaps. The inner handrail is very light so that the old bridge seems like a garden in front of the new bridge and creates a better relation to the existing deck.

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3.1.2 Martin Radner Detour

The initial assignment was to propose a new bridge and a modus operandi for the dilapidated existing one which spans the Erlauf Reservoir in Lower Austria. I was concerned by three major issues which arose through my analysis of the site. The necessity of having a bridge is actually no longer given, since a new, short road has been built since the bridge was closed to traffic. There is currently no connection to the river­banks of the lake and hence a very remote perception of the water which I found regrettable. One of the most interesting spots around the bridge is right underneath it, it provides not just a great view from below on it’s structural features but also shelter from the frequent inclement weather. The design proposes a long raft, slowly sloping down alongside the riverbanks, ending right underneath the existing bridge. The bridge, overgrown by trees and plants, now framing the view across the lake it once straddled becomes a detour worth taking.

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3.1.3 Sebastian Bauer The Nature and Technology Trail

The new bridge concept, combines three main ideas, movement, education and experience. Primari­ ly it should create a link between the two sides of the lake, relate to the existing bridge and connect to the existing concept for hikers in the area. This existing educational trail includes information about flora and fauna, as well as fairytale stories about certain locations on the southern shore. The northern shore contains the dam, the railway station, a railway bridge and a suspension bridge which emphasise the tension between the manmade and nature. As a special element in this theme, the new bridge integrates the existing one, formerly used by the forestry workers, which is slowly decaying. The deck itself is already part of the landscape with plants growing on top of it. From certain perspectives it is no longer visible as a bridge, but as a part of the landscape itself. The new bridge is an entirely wooden structure built by simply laying one element upon the other and opens up new perspectives over the landscape, the fauna and technology. A space created underneath the bridge structure on the southern shore allows the hiker to rest and shelter there in the frequent bad weather. This seemingly fragile structure which is easy to build and maintain because it uses the resources of the region, will deliver a differential view on a location which is strongly shaped by the duality of man and nature.

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3.2 Material Interactivity II Water, Aggregate, Cement and a Container

Commentary by Peter Ramskogler The cement works at Wietersdorf, nestled in an alpine valley in the picturesque province of Carinithia, where the base ingredients for the manufacture of cement have been produced for the last 120 years, provide an extraordinary setting for an architectural grappling with that extraordinary material. It was our very special pleasure to receive the students of the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna and their professor, Michelle Howard, in our works for just such a challenge. Their task, that of creating a modern environment for work and communication using the possibilities of concrete and formwork technology and integrating the original house of the founding family Knoch, was fulfilled by the students in surprisingly original and compelling alternatives. It was especially positive to discover that each of the students had conducted intense research into the demands of a daily working day and integrated these discoveries to propose real improvements. Creative students have used a creative material to make extraordinary projects, some of which are presented in this publication. We extend our warmest thanks for this collaborative opportunity! Peter Ramskogler is an engineer and general manager at W&P Zement (www.wup.at).

Form follows matter? Commentary by Vincent Ducatez Between the first review I attended (structural systems) and the second three years later (concrete), the order of words seems to have changed to ‘Make – Observe – Research’, reaching almost Semperian questions on the complex relationships between design, program and construction. ‘Making’ as the starting point of architectural education is now further enriched by the enthusiasm and invention with which students embrace digital tooling, pointing towards the potential for architects to re-empower themselves. Vincent Ducatez is an architect and teaches at the School of Architecture of Lille (www.lille.archi.fr) Material Interactivity II

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Water, Aggregate, Cement and a Container Studio description

When water, aggregate and cement are mixed together, they form a liquid mass which, for a short time will be supremely malleable and, can be poured into any container, harden and assume the form of that container from the volume right down to the finest details of its surface. Furthermore the possibilities for reinforcement are now more exciting that they have ever been with advances in glass fibre and textile technology. Last but not least, concrete can engulf and surround materials and elements which can lend it properties which can be both beautiful and hard-working from transparency to energy efficient cooling and heating. It is these aspects that we explored in Studio by the means of a design project and 1/1 poured experimental prototypes.

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Recently in a discussion on the BBC about the unsung heroes of science, a group of scientists made their votes according to a series of parameters, most importantly that of global impact. The discussion became heated when one scientist insisted on concrete simply because its global impact is immense. So immense is its impact and so ubiquitous is it as a building material, it has the seemingly paradoxical role of standard element and the most exciting building material existing. We will cooperate with W&P Zement GmbH in Wietersdorf near Klagenfurt, one of the oldest cement manufacturers in Austria, who will act as our project client and provide both technical and material support for the foreseen material experiments and prototypes. Founded in 1893, the works have been constantly extended, developed and renovated so that they now form an ensemble of buildings of diverse function and date all distributed around and in the vicinity of the original historic “founding” building from 1893. In this project a high emphasis is placed on the container or formwork. You are asked to

explore how the shaping of a material can both enhance its appearance and its structural and acoustical efficiency. This shaping or deformation can occur at many scales from curving to increasing the span to the lightest of indentations which reflect light or define spatial differences.

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The Design Project The directors of W&P Zement GmbH wish to build an office for circa 30 employees with communication centre in the vicinity of the founding building. This new construction which is both building and landscaping should demonstrate contemporary advances in concrete construction while respecting its historic industrial surroundings. Instructor Michelle Howard

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3.2.1 Lucie Najvarova Eleven Vaults

The project of the concrete office pavilion is located at the cement factory in Wietersdorf near Klagenfurt. The location of the object at the site in the park and its circular shape helps to solve a problematic situation with communication between current buildings and creates a necessary connection between them. The nature at the site helped to develop a form of the design – the atrium inside of the object respects current tree positions and the entire park area is extended to embrace the parking places by a green garden. The main motif of the project is a vault. In combination with a circular shape of the object the vault represents a convenient static solution. The vault works as a connecting and separating element in a space and as the organisation generator. The spaces inside of the pavilion are divided by walls going along the pavilion and working as necessary static elements. Depending on the thickness and length of the walls the spaces offer various levels of openness and communication between rooms. The character of different spaces is determined by various shapes of vaults. Every vault is different, everything is a vault. According to a way of use of the space the shapes of vaults provide different light and acoustic atmospheres. The design idea offers to create a new construction system, new formwork. Using adjustable poles and thick plastic, it is possible to create various shapes and heights of vaults, and the most important – to let the concrete to shape itself.

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3.2.2 Christopher Ghouse Topographic

The final office-communication pavilion reveals a space defined by three elements. A slightly undulating floor – taking up the existing terrain – reaches down to the river Görtschitz. There the floor follows the course of the river, always 60cm above the river’s surface. This leads to an small slope within the pavil­ ion. Along the slight undulation of the floor – steps of 10cm – the working spaces are arranged, allowing communication with related departments of the company and diverse views throughout the entire pavilion, enhanced by the curved shape of the building. The roof builds a contrast to the floor. Being a clearly defined shape, the roof emerges out of the ground, growing gently, creating soft openings to let light in from the west side of the pavilion. ’Columns arranged like furniture within the space, help to define the designated work areas, directing or breaking workspaces and views. The 1 x 1m formwork experiment is built up on several points A. Re-usable formwork, a 1 x 1m plywood frame, on which a matrix of holes is applied. B. Modifiable formwork, via this grid, thin strings define an ‘inner space’, in which a bag out of two layers of cheap liner is placed in which the concrete is poured. C. Self-organization of concrete – during each pouring process the concrete will interpret and stretch the defined grid differently.

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3.2.3 David Spang Templar Landscape

The old mansion house of the founding family, Knoch, from 1893 as well as another historic building from a later date surround and dominate the project site. Both buildings are finished with a hipped roof which, with the development of building technology, shows a tendency to a flatter slope as time goes by. The new communication pavilion integrates this tendency into its design concept. Through a stretching, re-scaling and structural metamorphosis, this wellknown roof form is re-interpreted. The height difference of 3.20 metres from the old mansion house to the small river is also integrated in order to provide barrier-free entrances to the pavilion from all four sides. The newly fashioned topography of the exterior landscaping continues to the interior of the building creating a space which is both perceptible as one entity and provides opportunities for natural working space divisions. The generous space towards the river provides the natural point for communication and exhibition while allowing the workplaces situated towards the mansion house the opportunity to both be involved and retreat. The new hipped roof is reinterpreted as one great concrete shell, all of one piece rather than the composite of its predecessors. A large opening in the centre of this imposing element grants this workplace a nobility which could be perceived as Templar.

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3.2.4 Ralph Steffek Hidden Innards

The task was to build an office building with the focus on communication for the W&P Cement GmbH in Wietersdorf near Klagenfurt, which is one of the oldest cement manufacturer in Austria. The directors of the firm wished to build a landscaped area and an office with a communication centre in the vicinity of the founding building. The design which is both building and landscaping demonstrates contemporary advances in concrete construction while respecting its historic industrial surroundings. It functions as a representative element at the entrance of the whole Wietersdorf territory. The building contains office space for 24 persons plus multiple temporary workplaces spread over the whole ground floor. The design is dominated by a generous communication zone which is situated on an axis that connects the new building with the old founding building. The communication zone serves as a backbone element of the whole site – in fact of the whole company. It connects not only places but rather people. The office space is situated in a platform that is oriented to the East, where it opens up to a landscape area. It serves as a forecourt of the on top sitting volume and creates a courtyard that leads visitors and clients to the entrance of the building. The representative element sits on top of the platform – a dark concrete block that contains a large multifunctional hall and forms the key element of the design.

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3.2.5 Michael Hansen Cones of Light and Shade

My project for the new communication pavilion was inspired by the silos, pipes and the complex sculptural system of volumes which make up a cement works where every function is connected through purpose. In the very beginning I made diagrams and sketches, which consisted of some workspaces that more or less dissolved into one another, connected through purpose and spatially porous. Another important part of the concept is the contrasted space. Keeping in mind that the pavilion should contain many functions with different spatial and architectural conditions, this use contrasted space allow them to be clearly defined while also opening them up. Light and shade should sculpt workspaces, exhibition spaces and canteen facilities. Thus the spaces should not only receive the necessary light but be defined by it and in the same way that there are intermediary areas of light intensity, so too architecturally. Boundaries are clear but porous. This is also true for the relationship to the outside landscape where views are connected with the areas of light intake. The structural system is based on the subtle interplay of cones of moulded concrete which touch the ground at only one point lightly. They are structurally stable only because they lean on each other, and define spaces which remain for all instances and purposes, open. Thus form, light and shade are united in a common purpose of boundary definition and porosity.

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3.3 Material Interactivity III There is a Light that Never Goes Out

Commentary by Shadi Rahbaran Research – Observe – Make is a powerful, spatial idea that goes beyond a teaching method only. It is an intelligently choreographed journey into the world of Making. The journey goes through research (thinking, reading, collecting, analysing, mapping, documenting, describing, etc.) and observation (absorbing, perceiving objectively, taking-in subjectively, thinking and analysing again – with all your tools – and getting stimulated). Having gone through these stages, inevitably the leap into the world of Making can be experienced. Yet, the potential of this journey doesn’t just lie in its linear chronology of the stages. It also allows one to oscillate between and shift through the loops and stops on the way to Making. This conscious framing of the stages of Making sharpens one’s senses for shaping an attitude towards space and architecture. In this way a solution is rather formed than pre-scribed. You wouldn’t need to worry too much about answers; they will come to you! Shadi Rahbaran is an Architect and Assistant Professor ETH Studio Basel with Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron since 2007.

Commentary by Andre Broesel Evolution has arrived. Easy access to information and new advanced technologies, constantly improve research and the observation methods used. Contents and social networks are melting together as quickly as the speed of light and, what we perceive systems are permitted to take more complex forms. These offer new sources for ideas on architecture, urban planning and the development of our society. The comment by Paul Virilio has never been more true – Radical solutions require radical mind-sets for the makers in a more dynamic social community. Andre Broesel in an Architect and Inventor of the spherical solar energy generator which is currently in production due to a successful crowdfunding campaign.

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There is a Light that Never Goes Out Studio description

Introduction As is our wont we looked at one material very closely under the lens of specific characteristics using that framework to create a building project. Here we examined Glass through the twin lenses of its ability to transmit light and to be moulded, blown and pressed. With this emphasis the students created a project for a place of healing and rehabilitation situated on the grounds of the Steinhof at Baumgartner Höhe in Vienna. Glass Architecture is Light Architecture The ability of Glass, through its transparency, to transmit light and thus illuminate interior space has all too often been overlooked in favour of its ability to establish a visual connection with the exterior. We returned to the interests of the “Gläserne Kette”, an epistolary association formed by Bruno Taut in the early 20th century, which hoped for a new architecture based on the healthful qualities and honesty of glass. His Glass Pavilion for the 1914 Werkbund Exhibition at Cologne was an earlier attempt to realize such an architecture. Glass was coloured and moulded, curved and pressed and the resultant interior spaces were moulded by light of many colours, patterns and textures. Taut developed this Pavilion with, and dedicated it to, Paul Scheerbart, a poet closely associated with “expressionist architecture”, a revolutionary architectural movement whose reputation has suffered from having preceded International Style modernist architecture. With its emphases on fantasy, distortion, and non-repressive individualism, expressionist architecture and its spokesperson Scheerbart have been too easily dismissed in favour of the international Style. To Scheerbart, industry could serve society better by promoting clarity and free expression; glass bricks could eliminate opaque walls in buildings, symbolically eliminating the divide between one’s inner and outer realities. Glass could change society.

Fig. 1/2 Glass Pavilion at the Kölner Werkbund 1914 by Bruno Taut dedicated to Paul Scheerbart

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1914 and Glass Architecture by Paul Scheebart We accompanied our studies with the text, Glass Architecture, by Paul Scheerbart, written just before the advent of the World Wars when the possibilities that the new technologies could allow were looked upon with excitement and optimism. The horrors enabled and rendered more efficiently gruesome by technology, that the advent of two World Wars were to release were not yet foreseeable. Glass in Scheerbart’s fantasies was to be looked at, not through, to render light and architecture more colourful and illuminating. The preoccupation with the transparency of glass, espoused most famously by Mies van der Rohe, and finding its expression in the Barcelona Book 3

Pavilion of 1929, and which still dominates our modern perception of glass, was still in the future. The text itself, divided into 111 short chapters, is a wonderful agglomeration of fantasy and reality, it is both technical manual and laudation of a material which would change society for the better. Here, for example, is the first chapter. Chapter 1: Environment and its influence on the development of culture We live for the most part in closed rooms. These form the environment from which our culture grows. Our culture is to a certain extent the product of our architecture. If we want our culture to rise to a higher level, we are obliged, for better or for worse, to change our architecture. And this only becomes possible if we take away the closed character from the rooms in which we live. We can only do that by introducing glass architecture, which lets in the light of the sun, the moon, and the stars, not merely through a few windows, but through every possible wall, which will be made entirely of glass – of coloured glass. The new environment, which we thus create, must bring us a new culture. Glass is not (just) a pane We iterate in this studio the too long ignored role of glass as a material which is curved, pressed, blown and even rolled together with other materials rather than just a flat pane to see through. The students were encouraged to separate glass from the window, Scheerbart had maintained that the word window would fall out of uses, and allow it to generate Architecture. Other possibilities for the use of glass were explored such as material composites and the hitherto little exploited usefulness of glass as a material for the health sector, being easy to clean and to disinfect and having an enormous resistance to corrosive substances will also be handled. The Glass Workshop Introduced the students to a greater understanding of glass and a basic insight to its many applications. Glass-working methods such as fusing, slumping and sanding were demonstrated. Using float glass, a mould carved from an Ytong block, and the addition of various pigments they constructed pieces which were then slumped into shape in the oven, sometimes with surprising results. This workshop was led by the glass artists, Rike Scholle and Eduard Deubzer (see workshops), who demonstrated their areas of speciality such as the sanding and gluing glass composites. The students learned how to use the academy kiln which is usually intended for ceramics and were shown the basics of heat manipulation, distortion and surface effects. Material Interactivity III

With the skills and knowledge gained in this workshop, especially in the use of the equipment needed to manipulate glass, the students continued their research throughout the semester, working the glass each time the oven was free. Medical Grounds Surprisingly the first medical paper to connect light with patient well-being was published on the 27th of October 2013, it is called, “Hospital lighting and its association with sleep, mood and pain in medical inpatients”, by Esther I. Bernhofer. Here an extract: “The researchers found that patients were exposed to low levels of light around the clock, including overnight. And like many hospital patients, those in the study slept poorly, with frequent interruptions and an average of only about four hours of sleep per night. Patients who had less light exposure during the day reported having a more depressed mood and being more fatigued than those exposed to more light. On average, patients in the study were exposed to only about 105 lux, a measure of light emission in a given area. Normal office lighting provides about 500 lux and a sunny day can represent as much as 100,000 lux.” Parameters The students each chose an illness which they wished to treat at the beginning of the semester and used the special attributes of that illness to create their place of healing. The place of healing proposed by this project provides 3 different types of spaces for which the students sculpted light accordingly: – The Patient’s room where he or she is more or less lying down and watching the changing light as it moves through the room, – the ambulatory where the patient could use their movement through different types of light as therapy as well as simply moving from A to B, – or the treatment rooms where other senses could be activated such as touch. There is a Light that Never Goes Out The title of the studio, while acknowledging its debt to The Smiths, refers both to continued relevance and extreme importance of the ideas of Paul Scheer- ­bart and to the inherent hopefulness in the act of healing. Studio instructor Michelle Howard

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3.3.1 Fabian Liszt Body, Brain and Light A project for people with epilepsy

The human brain and body work together in a complex inter-relational system. The functioning of the human brain is still a mystery in many aspects. However we do know that the brain and its billions of synaptic connections don’t stop to reshape after adolescence. Its malleability remains far into advanced age. Thus our behaviour and daily motions, routines, experiences and explorations of the outside world allow us to constantly reshape our inner world. In some illnesses it may seem that the body of the patient is at the mercy of arbitrary dysfunctional activities of the brain. The question arises whether the body always has to listen to the brain or if it can be the other way around. I want to create a place of healing that animates the patient to explore his inner and outer world with all his senses. Different situations of light and space shall help the patient to explore and better understand his/her own body/brain relationship and reshape that activity to their advantage. As Scheerbart in the following paragraph tells us. “The nervous effect of very bright light unsoftened by colour. We have to thank very bright lights, in part, for the nervous ailments of our time. Light softened by colour calms the nerves. In many sanatoria it is recommended by nerve doctors as beneficial.” The pavilion volumes are encased in a double skin which, as Scheerbart tells us, is the perfect tool for climate regulation.

“Double glass walls, light, heating and cooling. As air is one of the worst conductors of heat, the double glass wall is an essential condition for all glass architecture. The walls can be a metre apart – or have an even greater space between. The light between these walls shines outward and inward, and both the outer and the inner walls may be ornamentally coloured. … Heating and cooling elements can be suspended like lamps in the interior, where all hanging lights are to some extent superfluous, since light is distributed by the walls.” The outer skin is composed of the overlapping of modules created through the slumping of wine bottles in a shaped mould. The shape of wine bottle is so that it creates both the lower and upper connection points simply by falling into the mould. The slumping process creates unique pieces which differ in the distance between inner and outer layers of the module, surface and each one plays in its own unique way with the light passing through it. Their ability to connect in a system creates a façade that changes in relation to the closeness of the observer and the angle of the sun. These glass skins create exploratory spatial sequences & light atmospheres through the reflections between the volumes and the glass skins giving the person suffering from epilepsy ample stimulation for healing.

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3.3.2 Ben Grabherr Retrospect and Prospect A project for people with dementia

The people live here in groups with a little help from carers who permit them live as independent a life as possible, working together on their projects. The site lies in the workshop area of the Steinhof and this new project integrates the former butchers building in a continuous ambulatory accessible directly to each inhabitant. The contours of the terrain permit the ambulatory to both surround and hover above the garden, connecting to the existing building on the first floor and the Kindergarten on the ground floor. Rooms all face outwards towards the park, and, while they all possess the same basic design they differentiate in their orientation, thus light falls into each room differently. I studied the deformation of glass under controlled conditions based on heating, moulding and overlaying. Through these methods the glass is transformed from something that one looks through into sculptor of light space and touch. The occupant is stimulated by this material which is at once haptic visual and warm or cool depending on the sunlight. This layering of glass and the surprising movements of the material, even within very controlled conditions, creates spaces not only of glass but between and underneath glass. The varied translucency, surfaces, views and light are thus nor deformations but new enriching complexities, just as, perhaps, we should see all illness. Glass, in its most often found state, is a plate just as plywood is for wood. The structure of this project is formed through the layering of plates of glass and

plywood which are bonded to each through the use of resins. The translucency here is yet another, formed from the minutely wavy surface of cut glass and the greenness of these thick layers. The patient can then sometimes see through and always imply the movements of both the elements of natural world outside and their housemates within. They can thus retreat to a private area, all the while keeping abreast of events of the community and the outside world. Colour applied to the flanks of the wood create soft coloured hues in the neighbouring glass plates and are both useful for orientation and a pleasure to the senses. I would like to finish with this paragraph from Glass Architecture by Paul Scheerbart: “Our culture is to a certain extent the product of our architecture. If we want our culture to rise to a higher level, we are obliged, for better or for worse, to change our architecture. And this only becomes possible if we take away the closed character from the rooms in which we live. We can only do that by introducing glass architecture, which lets in the light of the sun, the moon, and the stars, not merely through a few windows, but through every possible wall… The new environment, which we thus create, must bring us a new culture.”

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3.3.3 Sureya Miller Light Movement Number 1 A project for people with Cystic Fibrosis

People with cystic fibrosis do not hope for healing, rather they work very hard in order to prevent their state from changing, they pursue manifold sport activities and are in constant movement. It is this treatment through activity rather than rest which fascinated me, thus how light is experienced by a person or persons moving though spaces. This traversing which is also a connection led me to a project which is, of its nature, an extension and intervention in an existing structure. I was struck by these paragraphs in “Glass Architecture” by Paul Scheerbart which speak about the extension or Veranda, as he calls it, being the first step in glass architecture. “The veranda. To start with the veranda can be transformed. It is easy to enlarge it, and to surround it on three sides with double glass walls. Both these walls will be ornamentally coloured and, with the light between them; the effect of the veranda in the evening, inside and out, is most impressive. If a view of the garden is to be provided, this can be achieved by using transparent window-panes …” “Whoever has provided his veranda with colourornamented glass on three sides will soon want to have more glass architecture. One thing leads to another, and to stop the process is unthinkable. So the veranda continues to grow; in the end it eman-

cipates itself from the main building, and may become the main building itself. To promote the evolution of the veranda will be the chief task of every glass architect.” A further preoccupation of mine became all important during the glass workshop. In order to mould glass, one needs a mould or form, and what happens to that form afterwards? How could I use the mould to somehow unite the different materials in my project? I spent time working on the mould itself which, in the workshop was made of ytong blocks finished with, in my case plaster. This mould was used to shape both the main glass elements and those made out of concrete. These forms which were produced were highly topographical thus question of their montage arose. This was approached through the use of large metal frames into which each prefabricated element was plugged and which simultaneously formed the base for furniture, especially a place at the window. The projected extension runs parallel to the existing building on a slope, the rooms are placed on an ambulatory circuit around this thickly planted slope and back through the existing building whose circulation area is glazed with the same deeply moulded panes of glass.

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Workshops, Lectures and Experiments

The author Richard Sennett describes the sketch as the key in the materialisation of ideas and we could not agree more. We seek to encourage the development of these sketches in workshops, lectures and seminars where the models and mater­ ial experiments are the tools to developing a finer sense of architecture and conceptual thinking.

Benedikt Frass und Günther Dreger ROM – Modellbau ist Denken

„Wenn Hand und Kopf voneinander getrennt werden, leidet der Kopf“ 1 (Richard Sennett in The Craftsman)

Architekten haben Ideen, Visionen, Vorstellungen. Von Raum, von Zwischenraum. Von Materialien, Licht, Proportionen, Oberflächen, Bewegung, Massen – alles Bestandteile von: Raum. Doch Architektur ist nicht nur Form und Raum. Architektur birgt Funktionen, beinhaltet die Trag­ struktur, entspricht den Gesetzen der Physik und mag bautechnisch umsetzbar sein. Architektur entsteht zuerst im Kopf. Sie wird zu Gedanken, Texten, Skizzen, Zeichnungen. Zeichnungen sind eine Möglichkeit, Architektur bis zu einer gewissen Komplexität zu durchdenken. Vor allem die Handzeichnung ist hier wichtig. Wenn der Architekt die Landschaft von Hand herausarbeitet und verfeinert, verfährt er genauso wie ein Sportler oder Musiker. Er lässt sich intensiv darauf ein, und sein Denken gewinnt an Reife. Das Baugelände prägt sich ein.2

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Abb.  1 Matthias Oltay beim „Building a Good Climate“-Workshop

Abb.  2 CMT-Studio, Erforschung einer Folienschalung. Eigenschaften wie der Druck von Flüssigbeton und Oberflächen werden überprüft. Stimmt das Resultat mit der Annahme überein? Worin liegen die Vorteile dieser Technik? Welche Parameter kann man verändern?

1 Sennett, R., Handwerk. Bloomsbury Verlag, Berlin 2008, 4. Aufl., S. 65; Originalausgabe: The Craftsman, Yale University Press, New Haven 2008 2 Turkle, S., Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. Simon & Schuster, New York 1995; dt.: Leben im Netz, Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1998, S. 100

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Doch es gibt ein Medium, das noch mehr als die Zeichnung die wahre Überprüfung von Geometrie, räumlichen Qualitäten, Tragwerk und Bautechnik leisten kann: das Modell. Die Überlegungen müssen hier zwangsläufig noch präziser und kontrollierter werden. Gedanken werden hinterfragt, verworfen, überarbeitet – weitergetrieben. Zeichnen ist Denken. Modellbau ist Denken im Raum. Forschung – Überprüfung einer Annahme Speziell bei den Projekten des CMT-Studios steht am Beginn immer die Forschungsphase. Es werden Grundlagen zu Themen wie Beton, Wolken, Aluminium, Wind oder Schall erforscht. Dabei sollte man so lange ein­tauchen, hinschauen und hingreifen, bis sich die Eigenschaften einprägen oder ein Geheimnis preisgegeben wird. Das Machen gibt es preis. Das Machen mit dem Kopf, das Machen mit der Hand, das Machen mit Werkzeugen – analogen wie digitalen. Es werden Experimente angestrengt, die durch Wiederholungen und Abänderungen von Parametern Vergleiche zulassen. Sie führen zu Ergebnissen, die das Experiment weitertreiben. Allein diese einzustellenden Parameter sowie die Wahl und Anordnung von Materialien und Verbindungen erfordern aus sich heraus schon Überlegungen und Reaktionen sowie das Bewusstwerden und Bewusstmachen von Eigenschaften und Eigenheiten. Diese Qualitäten gilt es zu beurteilen und zu ordnen und in den folgenden Schritten geeignet und bewusst einzusetzen und an­zuwenden. Der Erstgedanke, die ursprüngliche Annahme über den Ausgang einer Forschungsarbeit, kann dabei bestätigt, erweitert oder verworfen werden. Auch vermeintliche Sackgassen haben in der Forschung schon oft zu großen Errungenschaften geführt. Die Auswahl von Material und Werkzeug spielt eine wesentliche Rolle. Jede Bearbeitung von Materialien stellt unmittelbare fertigungstechnische Fragen. Materialqualitäten wie Härte, Steifigkeit, Temperaturverhalten, Eigenspannung, Elastizität, Eigengewicht und Bearbeitbarkeit stehen Fertigungsparametern wie Werkzeug, Werkplatzgröße, Materialgröße, Bearbeitungszeit, Arbeitsablauf und Transport gegenüber. Ent­scheidungen müssen getroffen werden. Zwingt man ein Material in einen Produktionsprozess? Ist das Ziel der Forschungsarbeit das Mate­rial? Der Prozess? Oder das Resultat? Die präzise Formulierung der Fra­gestellung zu Beginn ist hier entscheidend. Nur so kann man Pro­jekte eingehender erkunden sowie Material und Produktionsverfahren erforschen und aufeinander abstimmen. Reflexion – Wie sieht man ein Modell? Das Wesentliche bei Modellen ist bereits der Prozess, das Fertigen von Modellen in der Werkstatt mit Hand und Maschine. Hierbei wird das ROM – Modellbau ist Denken

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Modell im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes begriffen. Ich begreife es im Hinblick auf Materialeigenschaften, Zusammenhänge und Wirkungen. Im Weiteren kann ich Simulationen mit Ton und Licht anstellen. Ich kann Bewegungen in Film und Bild festhalten. Das Tragwerk auf Festigkeit belasten und Körper einer Windsimulation aussetzen. Mit den Resultaten, ausgeworfen in Grafiken und Tabellen, ist man selbstverständlich nie zufrieden, sondern geht wieder zurück in die Forschung und optimiert am richtigen Punkt. Dabei können auch direkt am Modell Verän­derungen vorgenommen werden, um bessere Ergebnisse zu erzielen. Es kann hinzugefügt, weggenommen oder abgeändert werden. Oft empfiehlt es sich aber auch, eine Variante zu produzieren, um später Vergleiche anzustellen. Die neue Form kann entweder erneut getestet oder auch mit einem Glasfaserarm, 3-D-Scan-Verfahren oder einem Punktiergerät 200

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Abb.  3 Verhältnis von Textil und Faden: Drei­­dimensionale Verwindungen, die nicht leicht zu imaginieren sind. Die schrittweise Annäherung und präzise Dokumentation der Forschung erlauben im Späteren einen kontrollierten Einsatz des Entdeckten.

vermessen werden, um sie dann zu digitalisieren. Am Computer können alle Dimensionen wiederum geprüft und gegebenenfalls angepasst werden, um sie dann per Rapid Prototyping mit computergenerierten Maschinen auszuwerfen und im „Realen“ zu überprüfen und zu begreifen. Es sei angemerkt, dass der Einsatz von computergesteuerten Maschinen in den ersten Schritten der Forschung sowohl Vorteile als auch Nachteile mit sich bringen kann. Der Verfahrensablauf dieser Maschinen ist zu genau, zu starr, zu notwendig kontrolliert, zu sehr in sich abgeschlossen. Dem Zufall ist hierbei wenig Spiel überlassen, jedoch sind im Gegenzug die unterstützenden Möglichkeiten, auf Nuancen in der Geometrie und Oberflächeneigenschaften mit höchster Präzision und Wiederholungsgenauigkeit einzugehen, unverzichtbar.

Abb. 4 „Building a Good Climate“-Workshop. Unterschiedlichste Materialien werden untersucht um optimale Ergebnisse einer Raumsanierung in puncto Akustik, Schall, Kosten und Gesundheit zu erhalten. Sobald ein Material gefunden wird wird dieses nochmal in vielen Versuchsanordnungen verbessert.

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Abb. 5 Beim Brückenprojekt ist das geometrische und konstruktive Wechselspiel schon im kleinen Maßstab direkt ablesbar. Konsequenzen im Versuch sind schnell auch durch einen Vergleich über­prüfbar und sofort optimierbar.

Abb. 6 Gefräste Uriol-Form und deren Abguss

Bauen – Verstehen zu lernen Wir erinnern uns kurz zurück an die Erfindung des Eisenzements durch den französischen Landschaftsgärtner Joseph Monier. Er suchte nach einer Lösung zur stabilen Herstellung von Pflanzkästen für kleine Bäumchen und kam so auf die Idee, Drahtgewebe einzusetzen. Fasziniert von dem Erfolg wendete er dieses Prinzip daraufhin für künstliche Felsen­ gärten, Rohre, kleine Wassertanks und kleine Brücken an. Dass dabei der entscheidende Vorteil u. a. auch der gemeinsame Ausdehnungskoeffi­ zient von Eisen und Zement ist, war ihm damals noch gar nicht bewusst. Aber was diese Grundlagenforschung im darauf folgenden Bauwesen bewirkt hat, bleibt nach wie vor einzigartig. Manchmal ist wohl auch ein gewisser Bauchinstinkt – der Bauch des Architekten – für entscheidende Neuerungen notwendig. Die Forschung kann also zu einem Punkt der Erkenntnis führen, von dem aus ein komplett neuer Horizont offensteht, vorausgesetzt, das neu erworbene Wissen wird richtig eingesetzt. Aber selbst hier darf die Forschung nicht stehen bleiben. Der Eisenzement konnte empirisch weiter­entwickelt werden. Die Erkenntnis, dass eine Kombination von Zugund Druckelementen das Geheimnis ist, führte später zur Bewehrung des Zements durch kleine Glas- oder Carbonfasern, was wiederum völlig neue Wege eröffnete, wie z. B. die Herstellung von dünnen Platten oder Gießbeton. 202

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Die unterschiedlichen Zemente zeigen bereits eine Lösung in einem Thema, das oft ein Problem zwischen Forschung und Einsatz darstellt: der Maßstab. Es wird in einem Maßstab zu forschen begonnen, der nicht immer dem Endresultat entspricht. Eigengewicht, Material, Oberflächen, Verbindungen können in dem einen, müssen aber nicht in einem anderen Maßstab funktionieren. Das Eigengewicht steigt exponenziell zur Länge. Stahlgitter funktionieren bei dünnen Platten nicht, weil sie eine gewisse Überdeckung brauchen. Oberflächen verschwinden oder treten zu stark in Erscheinung. Verbindungen werden uneffizient oder unmöglich umzusetzen. Daher ist es wichtig, das, was erforscht wurde, zu verstehen, um es je nach Einsatz innerhalb der Methode, des Materials oder des Werkzeugs zielgerecht zu adaptieren und weiterzuentwickeln. „Der gute Handwerker versteht die Bedeutung der Skizze, die dafür steht, dass man zu Anfang noch nicht genau weiß, worauf etwas hinauslaufen soll. Der gute Handwerker reagiert positiv auf Zufall und Beschränkung. Der gute Handwerker muss sich hüten, ein Problem unerbittlich bis zu dem Punkt zu verfolgen, an dem er es nur noch isoliert wahrnimmt. Der gute Handwerker vermeidet Perfektionismus, weil dieser zu einer Demonstration der eigenen Vorstellungen entarten kann. Der gute Handwerker hat gelernt, wann es Zeit ist aufzuhören.“ 3

3 Sennett, R., Handwerk. Bloomsbury Verlag, Berlin 2008, 4. Aufl., S. 348; Originalausgabe: The Craftsman, University Press, New Haven 2008

Abb. 7/8 (obere Reihe) Weiterführender

Einsatz einer gefrästen Form. Das Negativ wurde mit Gips abgegossen. Die harte Form kann nun mithilfe von Hitze und Unterdruck zu einer transluzenten Schale abgegossen werden.

Abb. 9/ 10 (untere Reihe) Bewehrter Beton einst und heute: Skizze zu Moniers Pflanzkästen mit Eisengitter und glasfaserbewährte Fassadenelemente gekrümmt und mit Wasserstrahl geschnitten

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These workshops, which are exercises in making, allow the students to gain specialised skills very quickly in very specific scientific and crafts-based fields in (very intensive) short 2–3 day workshops. Commentary by Hermann Czech Where students begin their journey is irrelevant – they must find role models to emulate, whether they be images, forms, doctrines, clichés, or whatever. What is important is to recognize the moment where the chosen system is no longer sufficient, and then to put it into perspective and introduce additional criteria. Thus the teacher supervising and criticizing designs must begin by taking their students’ motivations seriously – but realizing the point at which they are insufficient, and making the student aware of this deficiency. But even the teacher, in my understanding, does not have a holistic system, so he or she provides a living example of the need to put things into perspective. Hermann Czech is an architect, writer and educator and the author of one of the small spaces feature in the studio, the Kleines Café.

Commentary by Scott Chaseling Not all research can be codified and therefore only through practice one can obtain a tacit knowledge. Freedom in making brings out serendipity, improvisation and hopefully originality. Scott Chaseling, is an artist and glass craftsman. (scottchaseling.tumblr.com)

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4.1.1 Glass I: Seeing Through the Transparency Myth Lectures with Michelle Howard Workshop with Scott Chaseling

These lectures will seek to dissipate the many myths surrounding Glass, a material which has never ceas­ ed to impassion and mystify artists, architects and craftsmen since it was first discovered. At the same time we will describe its very real properties and attributes, the very real possibilities of working with a material which loses none of its appeal when it is more wholly understood. This exploration will be technical, historical, political and theoretical without distinction and will be pursued using working methods which will continually overlap. We will couple lectures on the physical attributes of glass with seminars on the use of glass in art and architecture and readings which also address politics with a hands-on workshop where we will work with the material itself. Through discussion and technical demonstrations the students will be informed on how to approach the material in the construction of their own glass project.

The workshop participants will then go through developing ways of using glass in a hands-on project. This project will be based on the transition from transparency through translucency to opacity. Using float glass (clear window glass) and the addition of colour paints the aim will be to construct panels that create tonal variables through layering and cutting affects. There will be a presentation of glass artists whose work falls into the category of architecture or whose work usually is installed as an integral component to architecture. A demonstration, involving a kiln (Brennofen), will show the basics of heat mani­pu­lation, distortion and surface effects.

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4.1.2 Glass II: There is a Light that Never Goes Out Workshop with Rike Scholle and Eduard Deubzer

This workshop introduced the students to a greater understanding of glass and a basic insight to its many applications. Through discussion and technical dem­ onstrations the students were informed on how to approach the material in the design of their own studio project. Glass-working methods such as fusing, slumping and sanding were demonstrated. Using float glass, a mould carved from an Ytong block, and the addition of various pigments they constructed pieces which were then slumped into shape in the oven, sometimes with surprising results. This workshop was led by the glass-artists, Rike Scholle and Eduard Deubzer, who demonstrated their areas of speciality such as the sanding and gluing glass composites. The students learned how to use the acad­ emy kiln which is usually intended for ceramics and were shown the basics of heat manipulation, dis­tortion and surface effects. With the skills and know­ ledge gained in this workshop, especially in the use of the equipment needed to manipulate glass, the students continued their research throughout the semester, working the glass each time the oven was free.

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4.1.3 The Good Climate Workshop With Michelle Howard

Here we explore the materialisation of ideas most concretely where, within the framework of a workshop we fabricate the elements of our ideas and mount them in the place for which they were planned. We will then test them for their effectiveness with the aid of measuring instruments. The Studios at the academy, although generous spaces with high ceilings and beautiful materials, constantly pose problems with regard to climate (in its largest sense). Subsequent interventions have if anything worsened the situation, blackboards block the windows, sun blinds prevent ventilation and artificial lighting arrangements pay no heed to the orientation or architecture of the windows. Using your skills of observation and small finely placed interventions you should transform your own working environments (the studios and rooms you work in with your fellow students at the academy) into well ventilated, lit and acoustically insulated spaces. Each of your interventions will be presented in its built-in version at the final workshop review. These interventions should function on all levels, thus it should also be beautiful. You should use all of the facilities of the academy in order to produce a prototype which is just as finely built as it is imagined and planned.

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4.1.4 The Acoustics Workshop With Renz van Luxemburg

The reverberation time is the most used objective parameter to describe the acoustics of many types of spaces. This parameter describes the amount of time needed for the sound level to decay 60 dB after switching off the sound source in a room. The acoustics of a room must be related to the typical use. In some spaces a ‘lively’ acoustics is desired like in a church where the reverberation time is very long, while in other spaces ‘dry’ acoustics are preferred with a short reverberation time, like in a recording studio. Auditoria and spaces for performing arts are somewhere in between these extremes, where not only reverberation time is an important

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aspect but also intelligibility of speech or music. In this workshop the assignment is to design an acoustic intervention for the Aula of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts or for lecture room 211. As a starting point, the acoustics of both rooms will be indicatively determined and modelled using the acoustical software tools Dirac and Sabin and the recording of balloons bursting at different points. The results will be used as a starting point to improve the reverberation times of both spaces to function as a lecture room with good speech intelligibility. Renz sadly passed away suddenly in early 2012.

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4.1.5 The Concrete Workshop With Michelle Howard

The students were asked to prepare a piece of formwork using any material and method of construction they saw fit which would produce a 1 x 1 m piece of concrete. This prototype should serve as both a learning tool and a tool for architectural design. The methods the students chose varied from frame constructions with string façade grids to milled styropor and even to ferrocement. The pieces of formwork were transported to the concrete works of

W&P cement in Wietersdorf and there, with the generous help of experienced concrete professional, the students were able to pour concrete according to the correct type of aggregate and application process. The results were elements of surprising beauty which contributed more to their eventual projects than the students had first imagined.

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4.1.6 The Architecture of Small Spaces Workshop With Michelle Howard and Lisa Schmidt-Colinet

Even today dedicated spaces of consumption play an important role in Vienna’s image as the mediator of the culture of taste. Within the CMT platform, first semester bachelor, students are asked to investigate 5 important examples of these small pieces of architecture, each of which encompass just one very intricate and accomplished space. The moderate size of these pieces of architecture permits the detailed notation of the materials and construction methods used, the main focus of this project. The “mise en

scene”, of social behaviour, defined through elements like counters and showcases, as well as the staging of the transitions between public space, the street and the semi-public zones of commerce & consumption are other venues of investigation. Students should study the selected examples very closely both first hand and through published information in order to produce an accomplished documentation.

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4.2 Lectures and Experiments in Shaping Material

In these lectures we explore how constructions are influenced by the materials that constitute them, and, in the case of complex constructions, which materials take precedence. In the case of some materials we have not even skimmed the construction possibilities inherent in them. This may be either because our understanding of their technology is still limited, or the material which constitute their supports still take precedence. How does shaping and forming influence the shape and form of our constructions? The stories related to the practical, technical, historical, cultural and social factors which formed the background for the eventual standardization of certain building products are interesting. But are these factors are still relevant today? If not, which should be the deciding factors for today's materials and building systems? Do we realise just how fine our perception is of size and how thoroughly we are conditioned by those we have become accustomed to? Commentary by Gian Mauro Maurizio Apprendre l’architecture c’est apprendre à ouvrir les yeux, apprendre à ouvrir les livres et apprendre à experimenter librement. Gian Mauro Maurizio is an architect and director of “La Galerie d’Architecture”, a gallery for architecture in the Marais in Paris (www.galerie-architecture.fr).

Remark by Michelle Howard: The beauty of French is that this phrase can suggest many interpretations including perhaps the following: To learn architecture is to learn to open your eyes, to open your eyes is to learn to open books and learn to experiment freely. To teach architecture is to open their eyes and in opening their eyes, to open books and experiment liberally.

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4.2.1 Blerim Kurtishi Folding Concrete

Concrete is an important construction material widely used on a large scale for structures, foundations, bricks, walls etc. I decided to investigate concrete at a smaller scale and treating it as an interior design element. As a component, concrete is strong and inflexible, my investigations deal with making concrete fold. Concrete parts are connected with steel cable mesh that serve both as reinforcement and wallow folding. Steel cables are arranged in a grid and each concrete piece is curved in two directions to facilitate folding. I sought to produce a concrete wall that can be folded out in different configurations thus allowing a simple but effective acoustic and view separation.

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4.2.2 Christiane Hütter Controlling Deformation

The aim of this material research was firstly to generate a deformed PMMA panel by applying a grid pattern engraved by the laser cutter. The panel therefore was not only deforming because of the pattern, but also during the cutting process, because of the heat produced while cutting & engraving. Another outcome produced by the grid pattern was a gradual metamorphosis of the material from transparency to translucency to opacity in only one panel. An indirect way of deforming a PMMA panel and in the same process changing the quality of the panel concerning the effect of transparency, translucency and opacity. The other test series was based on the idea to

transform a PMMA panel with a direct thermal forming process, by heating panels in the oven to then deform them by hand (with tools). This test was helping to understand the consistency of the different material qualities concerning density (transparent, translucent, opaque) and then, with this knowledge, to generate a grid pattern with the most effective result concerning the deformation in the indirect thermal forming process, generated by the heat in the laser cutting process.

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4.2.3 Camilla Struklec An Experiment with a Stretch Wrapping Film

First try: I wrapped around the ropes in the middle of the construction to prove carrying capacity and flexibility and tried to create a little space between the ropes by wrapping. Conclusion: I couldn’t prestress the film enough so the material was bending too much. Second try: I wrapped around the ropes but this time without pre-stressing the film. Conclusion: When you don’t prestress the film first it gets very loose and although you can create a space in-between, it is not resilient. Third try: I wrapped around the ropes but this time on the side with most tension. Conclusion:

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The material is highly stretchable and resilient. It is much more effective to start on the side and I can use much more strength to prestress the foil. Fourth try: breaking test: Can the construction bear my weight? Conclusion: It can nearly hold my weight, the load limit is surprisingly high before it cracks because pre-stressed film is very effective. Fifth try: The last experiment was to create a plane surface between three columns, which can carry more weight than the ropes. Conclusion: By using the foil as a surface, not as a rope, it can hold much more tension, weight and pressure and finally I could sit on the construction.

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4.2.4 Felix Rebers Destroyed Trees

The material experiment is strongly inspired by the picture of trees destroyed by splintering after a strong storm in winter. The inside of the tree becomes visible. The destroyed trees express different material qualities and indicate the flexibility of the wood in the bent sections and indirectly the strength of the storm. The goal of the material experiment is to figure out what the observed qualities of the destroyed trees can be used for in a smaller scale. In the end of the material experiment the transformation from the rough and hard to the fine and soft seems to be the most promising aspect. Comparably with the

destroyed trees the transformation produces new material qualities such as the visible inside, the soft and fine peeling sections or the expression of the internal material stress in the peeled parts. Particularly the qualities of the soft/fine and hard/rough can be used for a two-sided acoustics panel. Because the soft/fine side can function as an absorber of sound and the hard and rough side can function as a more reflecting side. This acoustics panel could combine the material qualities from the natural branches of wood and the qualities of the transformed material.

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4.2.5 Jurgis Gecys Inflatable Formwork for Organic Solid Shapes

Conventionally, in the process of making reinforced concrete walls or slabs, two-sided formwork is used. However, when it comes to more complicated shapes, typical formwork is not very efficient. The main idea for this experiment was to use inflatable formwork as a possible alternative for forming spherical structural elements. The setup includes two balloons, plaster and air compressor.

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As the first balloon is fulfilled with liquid plaster, the second balloon is inserted into the first one and inflated with air compressor. As soon as the plaster solidifies, the balloons can be removed by simply deflating them. The result – smooth and solid spherical shape, which can be easily adapted.

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4.2.6 Kay Sallier Cuir Bouilli

This experiment transforms a soft, sensual, bodyrelated material into a hard, constructive product. The method of “Cuir Bouilli” (boiled leather) is an historic technique to make armour and hardens the leather through cooking, drying and then moulding it into a predetermined shape. Through this method the leather becomes hard as wood but with a higher tensile performance, perfect for armour. In another study the naturally tanned

leather swells up. After this treatment the leather is heavily damaged and loses its flexibility and softness. Further cooking with wax separates the constituent layers of the leather which is, of course, actually skin. The results are reminiscent of fossils, sawed bones or to stalactite cave-like structures.

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4.2.7 Rena Giesecke Smocking Structures

Inspired by a conceptual epoxy-textile model the basic idea of the experiment is to inform fabric by smocking. This keeps the qualities of flexibility and softness lying in the logic of the material. The aim of the experiment is to test the potentials of fabric as a performative visual filter changing according to light conditions. The traditional techniques of smocking consists of one sewing principle that is repeated regularly to achieve varying material concentration and a resulting varying translucency. From a flat textile surface it is informed by sewing into a spatial structure. In terms of performative potentials it is

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more appropriate to test the crosswise linear sewing than the offset sewing as it is easier to transform by simply pulling inserted threads. Conclusion: It was relevant to discover the potential of transformability of textile by sewing instead of fixing one state of performance like in the first conceptual model. The modification of the traditional sewing patterns according to the qualities of the first model, varying translucency and density, effected variation in the system. Those qualities could be developed further to a visual filter reacting to sunlight.

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4.2.8 Miriam Pollak Sugar Landscape

The first approach to create a Sugar Landscape was to pour the melted sugar into the framework, let it cool down a little bit and then pull it out with pieces of cardboard, wire and wooden sticks. It is always necessary to keep a certain thickness in the form in order to stabilize the caramel model, it is not possible to create very thin structures. The second tactic was the one used by Herzog & de Meuron. After filling the framework with sugar and waiting for it to cool down the form is rotated 180 degrees. If the sugar is in the right condition it drops out slowly. The surface tension from the cooler layer of caramel

should be strong enough that the sugar mass drops out in a continuous mass. When the caramel slowly starts to deform itself it is necessary to cool down the bottom of the model by using a cold fan. It is important to cool down the bottom first, as there is the most amount of sugar and it is still easy to deform. Keeping the caramel models is difficult. To delay the process of destruction it is important to know that caramel melts easier when it is exposed to humidity and heat. The Academy of fine arts with his high ceilings proved to be appropriate to preserve the models.

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4.2.9 Max Müller and Max Weidacher Concrete from Scratch

The main objective of the project ‘concrete from scratch’ was to explore the potential of concrete regarding its superficial qualities. Ranging from standard ready-made mixtures, to different proportions of parts or custom compilations various of aggregates (pigments, grains, sands, cement), a first set of test pieces, each one measuring 25 x 25 x 3 cm was casted, then treaded (painted, grinded, waxed ...) or else left unfinished after unmoulding/hardening.

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Errors lead to hypothesis or stimulated new experiments. Finally a set of 20 samples was juxtaposed on an implied infinite matrix, allowing for unconfined comparison. The output of the project was documented on two large prints. ‘1 :1’ shows full-scale orthographic photographs; ‘making-of’ depicts as well as describes the process of making.

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Fig. Martin Radner

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4.3 Lectures and Experiments In Observation

Sensitive Environments: we examine here how the spaces created by certain compositions of construction, materials and technology interact with the climatic elements of the world around them. Rather than assuming values for isolated building elements, we will make this examination through the observation of whole spaces. We explore the possibilities for a more sensitive environment, one which reacts or activates on the presence, actions or touch of the inhabitant or user. Current advances in materials and technology now allow us to challenge blanket solutions and propose alternatives which react to a particular user rather than a sample one. The lectures present you with insights into current advances in the direction of sensitive environments and present sensitive environments of the past. Experiments in Observation: You are asked to observe the spaces you occupy one day per week for the whole day according to the following criteria. The success of your observations will hinge on the system or systems you use to record them, the questions you ask and how they can be cross-checked with others to discover possible interdependencies.

Commentary by Jürgen Radatz However, Architecture is not a linear process. Jürgen Radatz is an architect in Vienna (www.architekt-radatz.at).

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4.3.1 Terezia Greskova 144 Hours in a Train

This project is the result of observations made during one semester of travelling between home in Bratislava and university in Vienna. The train represents an enclosed environment which is activated by the presence of users and became my home and workplace during the semester. I observed these spaces, which were different types of trains, and their influence on users (me) through measurements of climatic, acoustic and light conditions throughout

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the day. This project, intended to be a series of observations on spaces, also became one on my own sense of well-being in those spaces. I recorded my behaviour, the way I occupy the space and activities that vary from eating, sleeping, working on the computer, building physical models, sketching new ideas for other school projects and watching the changing surroundings as if sitting in a movable living room.

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4.3.2 Anna Csefalvay Daily Dust Diary

In a course of one week, I tried to observe the space of my room. A room I occupy daily, and the responsibility of order and cleanness is only mine. I found it an interesting approach to ‘collect’ the dirt and dust, so to see a visual evidence of quality of the unseen, but an essential part of our spaces, the air. Throughout the semester, I’ve been collecting dirt from the surfaces of several different spaces I occupy with the help of a transparent duct tape. For the final research I decided to use the same material, but differently. I placed the tape sticky side up for six and twelve

hours on different surfaces in my room, thus showing something of the quality of the air. I installed the tape both on horizontal positions, on a bookshelf and the floor, also on a vertical surface, the wall. As expected, it shows the difference. The room is about 12 square meters, has a wooden floor, white paint of walls, and quite a lot of furniture, mostly book shelves. As for further information, let the scans of my collection talk for themselves. This is my daily dust diary.

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4.3.3 Bastian Vollert Analysis Type II

The drawn and written analysis of one or more rooms in a well-defined time slot consists of a form which can be filled in by hand. Its core piece is a flexible grid which displays mainly graphs with the help of a timeline at the bottom of the paper. On the right you can find different help structures which define the values used in the graphs. The left side is prepared for short notes and sketches. Finally the whole system gets covered by a piece of translucent paper which connects all the observations on a superior surface.

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Air temperature diagram: divided into the estimated and measured temperature line. The supporting diagram describes the sort of clothes I was wearing during the analysis. Air quality diagram: defined by the estimated air volume, different body or environmental observations are used to describe bad or good air quality. Lighting diagram: The analysis is divided into natural and artificial light sources. Sunrise/-set as well as cloud cover and the observation of contrast are classified. Acoustics diagram: The noise level is specified by comparing the loudest and the quietest noise during the time of occupation.

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4.3.4 Teresa Traunsteiner It’s a Noisy Day

Ten weeks of observing my close surroundings by taping the noise where ever I went. Be it at home, on the way to a concert or somewhere else – noise is always by our sides and effects our daily lives in a way that is far from negligible. In this project I gathered different noises inside and outside as I encountered them including seemingly noiseless elements like elevator. This study illustrates the level of noise to which we are constantly exposed, even when we think all is quiet.

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4.4 Lecture Series

The goal of the different lecture series in CMT is to bring public speakers of the highest calibre who are passionate about how things are put together and how we interact, through architecture, with the world around us, to share their thoughts and ideas. The purpose of the series is to provoke discussion and debate about the topics presented and find new bridges of interaction between hitherto disparate fields of thought.

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4.4.1 Materialising Ideas in an Age of Digital Production

“What am I doing here?” The British writer Bruce Chatwin asked in the title of a collection of essays in 1989. We use Chatwin’s simple yet fundamental question in order to reflectively discuss methods of production in architecture. This year’s series of lectures will explore the influence, significance and changing potential of digital media in the process of materialising ideas. It will seek to define the nature and extent of the productive disruption and acceleration caused by digital media, and to investigate the validity of the structure of ideas and their materialisation. Viewpoints will be explored from different distances and in diverse contexts. Historical, sociological, technological, artistic and productive perspectives will be combined to encourage debate about this phenomenon. We have chosen concentrate on the development and materialisation of ideas at a time where both analogue and digital tools are at our disposal and thus wish to perceive the interaction of digital and analogue methods of production with regard to the historical, political, social and technical character of these tools and their interaction.

From Computational Design to Digital Production Arnold Walz, designtoproduction, Zurich/Stuttgart Fig. 1 Virtual Interiors Annett Zinsmeister, Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Stuttgart Fig. 2 Fabric, Fibres, Concrete Mark West, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg From Landscape to Image, a Short Cartographic Story of Perception Philippe Rekacewicz, Cartographer and Journalist, Naresto/Paris Fig. 4 Integral Formation and Materialisation in Computational Design Achim Menges, Institute for Computational Design, Stuttgart Fig. 5 Antoni Gaudi and the Post Digital Material Age Mark Burry, RMIT University, Melbourne Fig. 6 Global Project Delivery Alex Kunz, Gehry Technologies

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Some More or Less Successful Projects Monica Bonvicini, Professor of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna Fig. 8

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4.4.2 Our Concrete Ideas

Is there an architect alive who has not used concrete in some form or another in their career? Like it or loath it, this ubiquitous yet surprising material dominates our conception of modern and contemporary architecture. In this series of informal discussions, architects discuss their relationship to concrete and how it has shaped certain parts of their practice. As a preparation aid they were asked these questions. How do you use concrete? Is it a material that you think about? Would your architecture be possible without concrete? Concrete is a poured material, what are your thoughts on the container? What could concrete achieve with new technology?

Our concrete Ideas 1 Merritt Bucholz of Bucholz McEvoy Architects Our concrete Ideas 2 Peter Leeb of Condak Leeb Architects Our concrete Ideas 3 Hannes Stiefel of Stiefel Kramer Architects Our concrete Ideas 4 Stefan Rutzinger of Soma Architects

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4.4.3 The Practice of Research

The question of what constitutes research in a school of architecture is particularly important today and intrinsically linked with the current metamorphosis of the profession itself. After a constant narrowing of the definition of the profession since the 70s a counter-explosion has taken place which has not only widened its scope again but shifted and questioned its very foundations. In this lecture series members of the Faculty of Architecture of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna will present the research they are currently performing, their methods and outlook on the practice of research.

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Forgetting Architecture Prof. Angelika Schnell, Director of the Platform History, Theory & Criticism Practice based Research | Research based Practice Prof Nasrine Seraji, Head of the IKA Fig. 1 & Prof. Michelle Howard, Director of the Platform Construction, Materials & Technology Fig. 2

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Stripping, filling, lifting Prof. Stefan Gruber, Director of the Platform Geography, Landscape & Cities The City as a Construction Site Prof. Luis Feduchi, Roland Rainer Chair

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Appendix

Just like architecture, this book is a team effort. It is edited by the director with contributions by members of the CMT platform, commented on by international visitors from art, architecture, sciences and technology and generously funded by our sponsors.

Contributors

Michelle Howard is a Professor of Architecture and head of the Platform for Construction, Materials and Technology at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna since 2008. She was born and educated in Ireland and graduated from Dublin City University in 1991 and after 7 years primarily spent in Paris, moved to berlin in 1998. She has spent much of her career collaborating with some of the most important Architectural practices in the world. Notably she collaborated with the Renzo Piano Building Workshop in both the Genoa and Paris office and then led the project with for the IMAX Cinema complex, part of the Potsdamer Platz urban ensemble in Berlin. She then led two seminal pro­ jects for the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, the Dutch embassy in Berlin and the Casa da Musica in Porto. Michelle continues to work occasionally with OMA in an advisory capacity. Michelle has also taught in Cornell University and was part of the founding faculty of the School of architecture in the University Of Limerick, Ireland. In her office in Berlin called constructconcept, she maintains a small structure where she can both collaborate with others and gain support when her own activities demand it and believes that good architecture is the result of great teamwork. She is committed to the fusion of design, construction and environment in architecture, without compromise. Her two family house, the stacked house in Berlin has received the KfW (Kredit für Wiederaufbau) prize 2014 for sustainable, affordable and forward-looking building. Her current research explores the relationship between a comprehension of spatial climate conditions and the willingness of the user thus informed to adjust them independently, and consequently, attempts to determine if we would revaluate our definition of climatic comfort if the acuteness of our observational powers were thus honed. www.constructconcept.com

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Appendix

Peter Bauer studied construction engineering and architecture at the Technical University in Vienna. In 1990 he completed his studies in structural engineering at the same university. In 1996 he founded, with this partners, the office for structural engineering called, Werkraum (workroom or factory room) Wien, in Vienna. They specialise in developing structures and construction techniques which are suited to the in­dividual task and situation which results in a consistent analysis and knowledge of the materials, structural systems and their inter-relational play with the design. It is amongst others, for these reasons that Peter Bauer is also an expert at the Austrian Standards Institute as well as teaching at the Technical University and Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. He is active as a consultant in numerous interna­ tional research projects dedicated to material and constructional studies and the introduction of new standards in building technology.

Günther Dreger was born in 1973 in Graz and lives in Vienna. He works seamlessly in and through the areas of architecture, art, public sculpture and graphic design. He studied architecture at the Technical University in Graz, the School of Architecture in Aarhus – Denmark and at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna where he graduated with Greg Lynn as his professor. He established his own studio in 2006 where he specialises in the production of complex structures using techniques such as CNC and 3d milling. His clients include institutions, architects and artists such as, the Vienna Architecture Centre, Bernhard Cella, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Hans Kupelwieser, the nextenterprise architects, Vienna Volkstheater, Werner Feiersinger and Wolfgang Tschapeller. He has been teaching analogue and digital production at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna since 2007. www.dreger.co.at

www.werkraumwien.at

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Benedikt Frass was born in 1976 in Salzburg. Frass lives in Vienna as a maker of art and architecture in the twin realms of spatial studies and painting. He studied architecture with the professors Wilhelm Holzbauer and Wolf D. Prix at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, from where he graduated in 2003 with honours. As well as working on his own projects he cooperates with architects such as Coop Himmelb(l)au, Pro­ject A01-architekts and the artist Hans Kupelwieser. From 2008 to 2009 he taught architecture at the Arnold Schönberg Art School in Mürzzuschlag. He has been teaching analogue and digital production at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna since 2008. Beside first places in competitions such as the design of the forecourt of the Museums Quartier and the War Memorial at Morzinplatz in Vienna, he has received grants from the city of Salzburg and the region of upper Austria as well as an appreciation award from the Austrian Ministry and the Tische Bursary for Los Angeles. www.benediktfrass.at

Christian Fröhlich studied architecture at the TU Graz, graduated in 1997. Works in between architecture, art and media. Teaching experience since 1998. From 2001 to 2010, Assistent Professor at the Institute of Architecture and Media, founded the so-called “no_ LAb”– the high-end media lab of the institute. From 2007 to 2010, co-director of the postgradual master degree program “Architectural Computing and Media Technology” at the TU Graz. Won the Austrian Building Price (Category: Institutes and Faculties) and the Schütte-Lihotzky-Project Award from the Federal Chancellery of Austria, Section of Artistic Affairs. Participated in several academic workshops, scientific conferences and art festivals worldwide – amongst others in Xi’an (China), Amsterdam, Antwerp, Lisbon, Paris, Vienna, Zurich. Works on his doctoral thesis about architectural experiments; Senior Scientist/Lecturer at the Institute for Art and Architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Visiting Professor at the Artesis University College of Antwerp; currently Visiting Professor for design strategies at Kunstuniversität Linz and runs – together with Johanna Digruber – the architectural studio HARDDECOR ARCHITEKTUR . www.harddecor.at

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Appendix

Helmut Hempel Helmut Hempel was born in 1949 in Vienna. He studied architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in the master classes of Professors Ernst A. Plischke and Gustav Peichl. His first building project was also accepted by his professors as his thesis project. From 1974 onwards his professional career developed on three theoretical and practical levels, as a practising architect with his own architectural practice called Hempel Architekten (his son Irmo entered the firm in 1991), as an architecture journalist and critic with such journals as Architektur- & Bauforum, and lastly as a lecturer and professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna until his retirement in 2014. His architectural works have won numerous prizes, among those the Austrian Clients prize in 2006 for the Vienna City Library’s rare books storage building in the courtyard of Vienna Town hall. At the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna he specialised in professional practice and building construction. He is, by far, the longest serving member of the CMT platform and an invaluable oracle of historical information on the Academy itself, be that historical, political, social or constructional. www.hempel-architekten.at

Jochen Käferhaus Mag. Dr. Jochen Käferhaus teaches building physics, sustainability and housing services at the University of Fine Arts, Vienna in the institute for art and architecture. He studied law, economics and environmen­ tal engineering at the Universities of Munich, Innsbruck and Vienna, as well as international law and languages at the University of Geneva. From 1981 to 1985, he was Assistant to Prof. Dr. K. Fantl at the Institute of Energy Economics, Vienna. The main focus of his work is the rational use and application of energy in buildings within the framework of integrated planning. He is specialised in the climate regulating reactivation of existing building stock. Currently, Jochen Käferhaus is Managing Director/Partner of the Technisches Büro Käferhaus GmbH, Vienna, an office which has gained its reputation in the following fields, the sustainable application of energy; damage prevention in historical buildings and museums; and preventive conservation of artefacts. Jochen Käferhaus has also been involved in inter­ national research EU-projects as “SMOOHS” and “Climate for Culture” and has published numerous papers on the above mentioned subjects. His most well-known project is the environmental restoration of the Hofburg in Vienna. He is currently involved in just such a restoration of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. www.kaeferhaus.at

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Commentators

Elaboration of the ROM commentaries We have asked special people who have been involved with our work in the CMT platform since 2008, whether in Juries, Lectures, Consultations or Workshops, to contribute to this publication with concise statements which can react to the studio they participated in, the teaching method itself and/ or the words, Research – Observe – Make. Many of these special people are not architects or are not just architects. Many of them have used the skills they have developed through an architectural education and in the practice of architecture to explore new frontiers. Indeed their interests and the compulsion to try out the skills of their profession in other fields, and sometimes even discover new ones, are attributes that we value beyond measure within the CMT platform. It is hoped that these short statements will provoke a conversation with the ideas portrayed in this book and open them up to further development and discussion.

Inge Andritz (3.1) Architect and teacher at the Technical University Vienna. After studying in the TU Vienna, she worked with Roland Rainer for 6 years upon which she made her PhD entitled, “Spatial Decomposition, Mies van der Rohe and Japan – an interconnectedness”. In 2011 she published “Der Haus-und Hof-Meister. Mies’ Hortus conclusus”. The master of house and yard, Mies enclosed garden. www.ingeandritz.com

Andre Broesel (3.3) Architect and Inventor of the spherical solar energy generator which is currently in production due to a successful crowdfunding campaign. The design uses a spherical lens to concentrate sunlight on a small photovoltaic panel and combines this with a dual-axis pivot that tracks the movement of the sun. The transparent sphere collects and concentrates diffuse light where traditional devices cannot and as well as providing an efficiency boost, they can be used in far more locations than their flat, fixed counterparts. The Rawlemon design reduces the solar cell surface required to just 1 percent of that required by a traditional panel. www.rawlemon.com

Merritt Bucholz (1.1) Architect and Head and founding faculty of the School of Architecture at the University of Limerick. Together with Karen McEvoy he leads Bucholz McEvoy Architects. Major built work includes Fingal County Hall, both the Limerick and the Westmeath County Council Headquarters, the Elm Park mixed use development (100,000m²) and the Welcoming Pavilion at Leinster House (The Irish Parliament building). Bucholz McEvoy are noted for award winning low energy designs, and have twice represented Ireland at the Architecture Biennale in Venice. www.bmcea.com – www3.ul.ie/architecture

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Appendix

Barbara Campbell Lange (2.2) Architect, writer and teacher at the Royal College of Art, the Bartlett and the AA . A graduate of the Bartlett, the AA , Cooper Union and Cambridge University she has practiced, written on, taught, governed and examined design since 1988. She is editor of An Engineer Imagine by Peter Rice (1995), author of Paris (1997) and John Lautner Disappearing Space (1999/2005). Current work explores ‘spatial prosodies’ and ‘non-qualities of time’ in relation to sound and colour. Mario Carpo (2.1) Architectural Historian and inaugural Reyner Banham Professor of Architectural History and Theory at University College, London. He is Vincent Scully Visiting Professor of Architectural History at Yale University since 2010. His research and publications focus on the relationship between architectural theory, cultural history, and the history of media and information technology. His publications include The Alphabet and the Algorithm, Architecture in the Age of Printing, a commentary on Leon Battista Alberti’s Descriptio Urbis Romae. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Carpo

Peter Carroll (1.2) Architect and Teacher at the University of Limerick, Ireland. Together with Caomhan Murphy, he established A2 Architects in 2005. The practice is founded on a shared interest in both the continuing development of architectural practice as well as the unchanging, essential nature of architecture. A constant excitement and spirit in architecture is sought out, be it in a modest house or in the realm of spaces found in a school. His works have received several architectural awards and represented Ireland at the inaugural Lisbon Architecture Triennale in Portugal in 2007. www.a2.ie – www3.ul.ie/architecture

Scott Chaseling (4.1) Artist and Sculptor, he teaches Glass Sculpture and techniques in all major international art schools which work with glass. Technically brilliant, he developed the ground-breaking ‘roll up’ technique using the Murrini process. In 1996, working at the Creative Glass Center of America in Millville, NJ, he discovered a way of making chains with glass. Subsequently his art has moved away from narrative vessels towards large abstract sculptures and installations using these techniques which comment on current issues. scottchaseling.tumblr.com

Hermann Czech (4.1) Architect and writer, he studied with Konrad Wachsmann and Ernst A. Plischke at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts and has taught there at regular intervals. His work could be described as disparate, as it includes urban planning, residential, school and hotel buildings, small-scale structures and exhibitions. Czech has also published numerous critical and theoretical architecture papers, including research on Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos, Josef Frank and Christopher Alexander. The notions of renovation and mannerism play a central role in his theory “architecture is background”. www.hermann-czech.at

Vincent Ducatez (3.2) Architect and Professor at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture et de Paysage de Lille. He graduated with honours in Paris in the late 80’s, when his jurors were Noriake Okabe and Yona Friedman. He subsequently moved to Dublin, Ireland and stayed there until 2007 as one half of Hassett Ducatez Architects, and was responsible for such projects as the submerged millennium clock in the River Liffey and the Brookfield Youth Centre in Dublin which was awarded the AAI Downes Medal in 2007. He now lives and works in Lille and has recently collaborated with Lacaton Vassal on the Big Sur community centre there. www.lille.archi.fr

Hans Frey (3.1) Engineer and Head of Sales for Waagner-Biro Stahlbau, one of the most innovative firms worldwide in metal constructions from facades and large span roofs to bridges. Waagner-biro has generously loaned their time, manpower and expertise to discussions and critiques of many studios and student projects on the CMT platform. www.waagner-biro.com

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Martin Lechner (2.4) Engineer and Technical Director of Waagner-Biro Stahlbau, he specialises in innovative bridge systems and movable steel structures. He collaborates frequently with the academy in advising students with relation to structural engineering concerns. www.waagner-biro.com

Gian-Mauro Maurizio (4.2) Gallerist, curator, architect and teacher at the ENSA Paris La Villette. Having studied architecture at the ETH in Zurich, Gian-Mauro worked in the Renzo Piano Building workshop in Paris before leaving in 1999 to establish “LaGalerie d’Architecture”. It is one of the very few independent architecture galleries in France and the only one in Paris. The gallery is dedicated to showing, diffusing and discussing contemporary architecture. He was awarded the Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2012. www.galerie-architecture.fr

Shelley McNamara (2.4) Architect and professor at the Universita della Svizzera Italiana in Mendrisio (www.arc.usi.ch/en). Founder member with Yvonne Farrell of the inter­ nationally renowned Grafton Architects which they established in 1978. Their exhibited work includes many Venice Biennales where they were awarded the Silver Lion in 2012. Their completed work includes university buildings, schools, housing and public buildings together with urban design projects. Their Luigi Bocconi University in Milan won the World Building of the Year award in 2008 and is widely recognised as a seminal work.

Shadi Rahbaran (3.3) Architect and Assistant Professor ETH Studio Basel with Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron. Having finished her architecture studies at the University of Toronto, she worked with Bruce Mau Design in Toronto and OMA /Rem Koolhaas in Rotterdam, Berlin and Porto. She co-founded Rahbaran Hürzeler Architects in 2010 in Basel. She has just published, “Nairobi, migration shaping the city”, with Manuel Herz which documents, along specific neighbourhoods, how different cultures of urban life constitute the city today. www.rharchitekten.ch – www.studio-basel.com

Peter Ramskogler (3.2) Marketing director and Head of Sales at W&P Zement GmbH in Kärnten Austria. He was instrumen­ tal in creating the connection between the CMT studio and his company and organised both the pouring of large scale concrete samples and presentation to the directors of W&P at the end of the semester project, Water Cement Aggregate and a Container. www.zement.wup.at

Stefan Rutzinger (1.3) Architect and currently teacher at the Bartlett in London, Stefan is a partner in the architectural practice, soma. The activities of the practice range from the development of contemporary digital design strategies to the implementation of advanced geometries and theoretical research. Its work has been featured in the Venice Architecture Biennale 2010. Projects include the Theme Pavilion for the Expo 2012 in South-Korea and the extension for the Building Academy in Salzburg.

www.graftonarchitects.ie

www.soma-architecture.com – www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/architecture

Jürgen Radatz (4.3) He is an architect and long-time collaborator of Roland Rainer, one of the most important Austrian architects of the modern. He collaborated especially on the later stages of the headquarters of Austrian National Media and Television in Vienna, the ORF in Küniglberg. And provided in-depth knowledge on the construction and ideas behind that building during the studio.

Marike Schuurmann (1.3) Artist and Photographer, she lives and works in Berlin with frequent working periods in China. Marike was educated at the Rietveld Akademie in Amsterdam and then went on to complete her studies at the Rijksakademie van Beeldenden Kunsten. Her work stems from close observation of everyday occurrences and working practices which illustrate the distance between the artisan and current technology.

www.architekt-radatz.at

www.marikeschuurman.com

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Appendix

Nasrine Seraji (2.3) Architect and director of the ENSA Paris-Malaquais. After studying at London’s A.A, she worked in England and the United States before coming to France to set up her practice, Atelier Seraji. She directed the Institute of Art and Architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna until 2011 and was instrumental in the establishment of the 5 platform system. She was awarded the Médaille d’Argent de la Formation by the French Academy of Architecture, named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite in France.

Mark West (1.1) Architect and Professor at the University of Manitoba, Canada. Founding Director of C.A.S.T. – Centre for Architectural Structures and Technology. Mark West is internationally recognized as the inventor of numerous methods for casting concrete structures in flexible formworks. His first experiments in this area (1986) have led to a series of full-scale constructions of fabric-formed structures in Canada, the United States, Chile, and Puerto Rico. This technical research has been accompanied by exhibitions of drawings, photographs, and built installations exploring the future of architectural design.

www.seraji.net – www.paris-malaquais.archi.fr

www.umanitoba.ca/cast_building

Michael Stadler (1.2) Electrical Engineer and Research Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California, USA . He studied at the Vienna University of Technology and is the general manager and founder of the Center for Energy and innovative Technologies (CET) in Austria. Michael has been focusing more and more on microgrids and smart grids as well as combined heat and power (CHP), which is considered as an efficiency measure to reduce CO2 emissions and he has become a leader in the analytical/ mathematical research on distributed generation (DG) with and without CHP.

Annett Zinsmeister (2.3) Architect and Artist. In her work Annett Zinsmeister focuses on the intersection of art, architecture, and media studies. She creates large-scale installations, conceptual and built spaces, photography, drawings, films and collages dealing with architecture. Her installations are realized to challenge human perception, unexceptional habits, the antagonism of utopian ideas and the social and built reality. Her work opens up new perspectives on unrevealed potentials of disputed and abandoned spaces and initiate processes of urban interventions and transformations. www.annett-zinsmeister.de

Hannes Stiefel (2.1) Architect and Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Hannes is co-founder of Stiefel Kramer Architecture. He explores the role of observation and description as a constitutive component of the production of space, thus understanding users and observers as co-authors of the built environments. Projects include the “Landhausplatz Innsbruck”, Austria (with LAAC Architects) and “Doppelboden”, Stiefel Kramer’s contribution for the international competition for the Swiss Chancellery in Nairobi. www.stiefelkramer.com

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Sponsors

This book has been made possible by the generous support of:

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Imprint

Editor Univ.-Prof. Michelle Howard Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna Texts Peter Bauer, Günther Dreger, Benedikt Frass, Helmut Hempel, Michelle Howard, Jochen Käferhaus, Christian Fröhlich, Students of the Academy Commentaries Inge Andritz, Andre Boesel, Merritt Bucholz, Barbara Campbell Lange, Mario Carpo, Peter Carroll, Scott Chaseling, Hermann Czech, Vincent Ducatez, Hans Frey, Martin Lechner, Gian-Mauro Maurizio, Shelley McNamara, Jürgen Radatz, Shadi Rahbaran, Peter Ramskogler, Stefan Rutzinger, Marike Schuurmann, Nasrine Seraji, Michael Stadler, Hannes Stiefel, Mark West, Annett Zinsmeister Images Unless otherwise indicated, all images are the copyright of the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna All rights reserved. The editor and authors gratefully acknowledge the permission granted to reproduce the copyright material in this book. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. We apologise for any errors or omissions in the above list and are grateful if notified. Layout, cover design and typography Kai Dieterich (morgen-berlin.com) Sebastian Fessel (Büro für Film und Gestaltung) Printing CPI books GmbH, Ulm Copy editing Michelle Howard and Christiane Weidemann

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the German National Library The German National Library lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in other ways, and storage in databases. For any kind of use, permission of the copyright owner must be obtained. This publication is also available as an e-book

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