Reflections on Architectural Design. Respect the Site

Transcription

1 Reflections on Architectural Design Respect the Site MAAD Ruoyu Huang 25/04/2012

2 Abstract Architectural design is a complex circle process, which involves in site, response and make. Among them, site is the basement of the design and the architects should give our full respect to it, so how to respect the site through research and response is a key element of the design process and is also what I want to address in this essay. Based on what I learned and what I see in both China and UK, I would like to illustrate my own opinion about respecting the site, and then I would like to talk about some architectural design phenomena related to this issue and give my own critical opinions. 1

3 I. Understand the site The site is a location of an event, structure, object, or other thing, whether actual, virtual, abandoned, extant, or planned. This is the definition of site from Wikipedia, which puts more emphasis on the physical characteristic of its own. However, the definition of site could not be defined merely by its own qualities and quantities in architectural design process. It is much broader and involves in a larger range of surrounding environment around it and the stories and people behind it. When the surroundings change, the site and what has been built on it change too. Open may become closed; closed may become open; tall may become ordinary; striking contrasts may be obliterated (Lippard, 2005). Understanding the site needs a detailed site research and a mature site response. II. Site research Site research is the process of getting information from it. It is a process of getting restrictions for design. Learning architectural design for almost six years, my opinion towards restrictions from the site changed a lot. At first I complained about it because sometime it seemed that the restrictions would limit my ideas and desire in design. However, later I found that restrictions from site were very useful, the more restrictions the more hint for the design. Therefore, if we could do detailed research of the site, show full respect to it, the design will be more reasonable and logical. Following there are some important aspects of site and the corresponding research methods available. Physical characteristic of the site The physical characteristic of the site is the easiest information that we could get to know during the site research. For example, the size, shape and typography of the site, the climate of the site, the surrounding environment of the site. By walking, photographing, measuring and also some information collecting on the local related websites, we could have a whole view of the physical characteristic of the site. But admit it or not, this is also the part that we may easily forget because we think it is too obvious. Fig.1. Walking and photographing. Photo: Ruoyu Huang Context of the site The activities of the human on the site bring the context of the site, which in my opinion, includes aspects of social, historical, economic and political conditions. For 2

4 architectural design, this is a crucial part of the site that we should dig into deeper. The context of the site could not be researched merely by measuring and photography. Butterworth stated that the survey describes only a limited set of characteristics of the site, that is, those that are deemed useful in the imminent design of the building. These are the measurable aspects of the site s physical, socio-political and cultural characteristics, and of these it is the physical characteristics of the site which are given primacy. Giving such value to the physical, by extension, engenders an understanding of architecture as a mostly physical discipline; the conception of architecture as object. By focusing almost entirely on the physical the site survey establishes a context in which the design process then takes place, a context which in the main ignores contingency, temporality and happenstance. For most of the time, the context of the site is an invisible treasure. Drawing every little scene that touches you when you research the site is very useful. Also talking to the people that living on or near the site is also a quick way to know the history and story of the site. Alternative you can even go to the site, bring nothing professional, live as the local people, visit small local café, buy a sandwich and eat in the sunshine, see and hear and use every chance to feel the site yourself. Or even more creative, you can have the participatory of the users during the site survey. Fig.2. Sitting in a lovely local café. Photo: Ruoyu Huang Users of the site Users of the site, from my point of view, include the people who would use the architecture designed in the future and the people in a certain radius that would be influence by the design. User is an important aspect of site. To some degree they are the person we design for and the design is dominant to improve their life. So knowing what the users want could be very helpful for the design. Sometimes users are the clients that pay for the design, in this circumstance, the designer can have a direct communication with them. Sometime the users of the deign are not the client, it is necessary to find this group of users, having conversations or doing questionnaires, find out what are their needs in the design. 3

5 Fig.3. Talking with the user. Photo: Ruoyu Huang III. Site Response Site response is the process of analyzing and using information. The nature of response is defined by both the subject and the object the response process. Different architects may have different ways of responding to the same site. It is closely related to the own background such as education and design style of the site. After being in the studio for almost half a year here, I find that the response approach could be interesting and diversified. We could have a group brainstorm in order to cover every function that is needed in the site. We could play a group scenario, acting roles as different users from the site, trying to respond to the need of them. We could also use collage to find out the scale and the relationship of the project and the whole site. Participatory is also a good way to respond to the site. One interesting story I heard is that when a designer need to design some walking paths for the green park, his method was just to leave it and do nothing himself, let the users use the green park, walk wherever they need on the grass. Day after day, the grass where users used most became bald, the paths came out themselves. Fig.4. Mapping of the site. Photo: Ruoyu Huang 4

6 Fig.5. Collage of the site. Photo: Ruoyu Huang There are many ways that we could respond and show respect to the site. Someone could say that using the energy flow on the site as the control point to start the architect s own imagination is a way to respect the site. Others could say that if the design helps the site to shape its future looking, it is also a way to respond to the site. But in my opinion, respecting to site should be: fitting into the physical characteristic of the site, continuing the context of the site, listening to the users of the site. In my mind there are large amount of design cases which respond show respect to the site. For example, Alvar Aalto used the local timber as the main source of the building material, which fitted into the physical characteristic of the site. He also carefully considered the location of the outlet in order to make sure that the hot air can be blew onto the feet of the patient when designing the Tuberculosis Hospital, which listened to the users of the site. Vanna Venturi House, unlike most of the fashionable flat roof house at that time, Robert Venturi used sloping roof to reproduce the early colonial style villa, also the interior furnishings carefully learned from the tradition, which continuing the context of the site. IV. Some current urbanization problems in China Before visiting London, I have imagined the pictures of the city in my mind, most of them are big cities and modern buildings. But when I was in the city, what impressed me was the traditional style building, the charming of the history, the story of the context. Then I cannot help myself to thing about big cities in China, what has been disappeared? Based on the need of large scale of construction and the speed of urbanization, the context of the beautiful Chinese traditional architecture seems to disappear day by day. Chinese traditional architecture has rich history and stories, from the delicate fine buildings in the southeast to the grand large scale buildings in the northwest. However, nowadays every city seems to have the same face, square box, reinforced concrete and glass. This is an emerging moment. One situation is that the attention was focused on the internal order of the architecture or an expression of the personal will of the architect, but ignored its relationship with the external environment. For example the Galaxy Soho, which seems to be amazing in the model, gives people a feeling of improper in reality. 5

7 Fig.6. Galaxy Soho. Fig.6. Galaxy Soho. Another situation is that some of the projects seemed to try to continue the context of the site, but by just following the shape of the roof or elevation of the traditional building, while the whole building was made of reinforce which is superficial. The essence of the traditional building lies in its order, structure, materials, decoration and the most important, a lifestyle creating for people, which could not be inherited and protected by just simple imitating. Fig.8. An ancient building in my hometown Xi an Fig.9. A modern building with an ancient roof Despite those problems, we could still see that there are numbers of architect trying to changing this situation through their own efforts and practices, for example Xiaodong Wang in Kashi s renovation project. In order to improve the basic living quality such as water supply system and earthquake-proof system, the city Kashi decided a renovation project on the city s living district, which was very difficult to carry forward because of its race and economic problems. In order to protect the unique local architecture style and satisfy the need of every household, Chinese architect Xiaodong Wang and his design team carried out a deep research and made successful response to it. They recorded every unique details of the existing house by photographs and drawings for future design in order to continuing the architectural heritage. They also went to every household, talking to the users, researching and redesigning up to households one by one, which showed a great respect to the users and the context of the site. 6

8 Fig.10. Bird view of the old city Fig.11. Renovation in process Also the architect Shu Wang tried to put his work in harmony with local needs and culture. His buildings have the unique ability to evoke the past. Without making direct references to history, it has a strong sense of cultural continuity and re-invigorated tradition. From his works we could see that they were deeply rooted in the surrounding context in structure, material and space. Fig.12. Traditional material Fig.13. Courtyard V. Conclusion Architecture was built in a specific place, so it should reflect the characteristics and spirit conferred by the external environment. Nevertheless, respecting to the site is not to obtain all the little information and respond to it, which is extreme and will kill your innovation. A good design in my mind is to use the information of the site as the basic of the creation, fitting into the surrounding as well as innovating. Therefore, the purpose of understanding and analyzing as much as the restrictions from the site is to give the design a rational and logical root, which is a good starting point. After learning this Reflection in architectural design course, I had a deeper understanding of how architectural design is related to site. Also I got to know some creative methods of site research and site response, which I believe will help a lot in my future design. 7

9 VI. Reference LIPPARD, Lucy R (2005). Around the Corner, A Photo Essay. Site Matters. New York, Routledge. Butterworth, Carolyn and VARDY, Sam. Site-Seeing: Constructing the Creative Survey. vol.2 (1) LAWSON Bryan (2006). How Designs Think-The design Process demystified. 4 th ed, USA, Elsevier Ltd. 8