Design Methods for Creative Industry Buildings

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1 Journal of Engineering Technology (JET) DOI /s DOI: / _ Print ISSN: , E-periodical: X ; Volume 4, Issue 1; 2016 pp The Author(s) This article is published with open access by the GSTF. Design Methods for Creative Industry Buildings Dr. Marta Pieczara Faculty of Architecture Institute of Architecture and Planning Poznan University of Technology Poznan, Poland Abstract Being an important element of the urban space, a workplace for many people and a landmark for even more, any industrial building should be mindfully designed with regard to its importance for the local society. Nowadays, a raising significance of the creative sector of economy requires particular attention of architects and urbanists to summarize the methods supporting the successful design of creative industry buildings. Among plenty of different design approaches, at first glance personal to every architect, we can nonetheless identify a set of general rules and universal design tools which are shared in common. Keywords-creative industry; creative city; urban landscape; architectural design; design method; sustainable development I. INTRODUCTION Both heritage and new industrial buildings located within a city are important elements of the urban space that is shared not only by their employees, but by the more broadly understood public. Rooted deep in the collective consciousness, these buildings can be referred to as city's important landmarks, on a par with its cultural institutions, green spaces and infrastructure. They do also contribute to the notion of the place, as defined by Moore and Lyndon: Places are spaces that you can remember, that you can care about and make a part of your life [5, p.xii]. Because people tend to identify themselves with the places they live and work in, the quality of these spaces has a great impact on their self-esteem as well as on their sense of community. Therefore, the design for industrial and other workplace buildings should be no less thought out than the architecture designed for city institutions. However, very important from the point of view of socioefficiency, the phenomenon of identification shall not rely on the building's representativeness alone, but shall also take into account the employees' working conditions. Ensuring most safe and comfortable workplace environment must not be seen as wasteful spending, but as a necessary element of building the firm's capital and securing its stable growth. Developing successful designs of industrial buildings calls for new design methods to be elaborated and applied. II. CREATIVE INDUSTRIES concept of creative industries. Characterized by a network structure, diversity and specialization, the creative branches of industry are widely taking advantage of outsourcing and they refer to an individualized client. Commercializing ideas and unique products, creative industries remain focused on conceiving, transmitting and materializing symbols. Including many lucrative branches, like fashion, design or advertising, creative industries do also play an important culture-making role, containing publishing, music industry, entertainment, performing and visual arts, fine and heritage arts, handicrafts, restoration of works of art as well as architecture and interior design [2]. III. SPATIAL AND FUNCTIONAL FEATURES The diversity of creative industry branches results in various possible forms and scales that creative firms can potentially adopt. They range from a small atelier or a start-up, run by one or a few persons and housed literally within a room, through the scale of a manufacture, employing several people of different competencies, up to the size of a factory, employing more than a hundred of people and using professional, often highly advanced production technologies. Owing to the extended range of forms that a creative industry plant can take, it can be shaped so as to fit into different contextual frames, besides its obvious potential to take advantage of a growing market. Other than their varied scale, the creative industry plants are also characterized by individualized and intriguing architecture which is not only meant to improve the attractiveness of the urban landscape, but is also seen as a means of creating a company's recognizable image. It is likewise supposed to build the company's prestige and therefore bring advantages in the market competition. Another spatial and functional features of creative industry plants are their functional changeability and multifunctionality, which ensure the synergy effect of cooperation between specialists in various creative domains. All these characteristic spatial and functional features of creative industries need to be taken into account while designing a building that will contain one of their branches. However, a good design method shall help the architect identify a set of features that will prevail, directing the project's development towards the delineated target. The recent transformation of the twentieth-century economic model, which is marked by a retreat from the mass production in favor of the commerce of unique designs, ideas as well as short series of customized products, has brought the 18 Journal of Engineering Technology (JET) Vol.4 No.1, August 2016

2 IV. LOCATION STRATEGY V. DESIGN METHODS The notion of creative industries within a creative city is a response to the declining attractiveness of city centers as well as to the growing migration towards the suburbs. The downtown location of creative enterprises is supposed to lead to the economic activation of the neglected neighborhoods and to their effective revitalization by attracting talented artists as well as creative, innovative people. Secondly, the creative investments within such areas are expected to bring an improvement to their appearance. The choice of location of a creative industry plant should be therefore preceded by an attentive analysis of the urban context. There are three vital factors that need to be included in such a study. The first of them is related to the notion of the urban landscape. Being responsible for the quality of urban space, architects should consider any project as an opportunity to positively revise its appearance. The choice of location shall therefore be preceded by identification of an area (e.g. neighborhood) which needs to be revitalized. Thanks to their variety of scale, which results from varying needs of different enterprises, depending on their production profile, number of employees and space requirements, the creative industry plants have a potential to be located within city limits and so to become an important tool of urban design. Secondly, it is necessary to estimate the available labor as well as its skills and adaptability. Finally, the third important issue is related to the strategy of market diversification. From the point of view of sustainable development, it is important to perceive the full range of creative branches and to diversify them. Facilitating adjustment in terms of scale as well as nuisance limitation (e.g. transportation frequency), creative industries can actually contribute to individualize a neighborhood's character, giving an impulse to its economic and social activation. Moreover, the heterogeneity of creative firms inscribed in a district's urban landscape is essential in order to raise its rank within the agglomeration and can cause the phenomenon of people identifying themselves with the place they live in. Included in the training program for architecture students at Poznań University of Technology, the task to design a creative industry plant has three major goals. The first of them is to identify an area that could be successfully revitalized by locating such an investment within and which is characterized by a necessary labor potential. Another essential goal is to make use of contemporary architectural solutions that are suitable to express the creative brand's ambition for the unordinary. In this regard, the design for a creative company should be considered as its showcase, broadcasting its individual message to the potential clients. Last but not least, the emphasis is equally placed on the workplace conditions. A quality design shall not be limited to the building's representativeness, addressed mostly to its clients and the external public. Instead, it shall show off a more egalitarian attitude by supplying the users with comfortable, inspiring working environment. In order to illustrate the argument, it seems most interesting to take a look at some of the students' works. Having analyzed the development of the presented and several other projects, four potential design approaches have been identified. A. Architectural form. A 3-D image of the company's profile. In accordance with one of the creative industry architecture's fundamental commitments, that is to broadcast the company's identity, the design's concept can derive from the selected industry branch. The characteristic features of the product, the shape of its elements as well as its assemblage method can all potentially be a pattern on which the building's form is modeled. An inspiration of that type can influence the design from heart to skin, from the concept to the detail. Recalling the notion of Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art), this design method requires great consistency in application. Fig. 1. Motocross Supplies Company by W. Kowalczyk, PUT. Design principles. Fig. 2. Watch Manufacture by J. Krata, PUT. Design principles. 19 Journal of Engineering Technology (JET) Vol.4 No.1, August 2016

3 Fig. 3. Neon Lights Factory by M. Nowak. One example of such an attitude is the project of Motocross Supplies Company by Wojciech Kowalczyk (fig. 1). Inspired by the selected industry, the student has approached the design from aesthetic point of view. Departing from characteristic, polygonal shapes of a motocross bike's body, he provided an architectural form intended as investor's showcase. Based largely on outsourcing, this building contains mainly design and retail functions, but also provides space for special events. Concentrated more on commercializing a concept and a lifestyle than on producing goods, this project pointedly expresses the idea of architecture intended as an image and it represents a significant trend in creative industry architecture design. Based on same principles, however maybe less expressive in its final image, is the project of Watch Manufacture by Justyna Krata (fig. 2). Inspired by the functioning of a cogwheel mechanism, the student has decided to define the proposed architectural form by superposition of rectangular units. Each of the building's units contains a separate production stage and is carefully distinguished by means of structure overlapping as well as by finishing materials. Using quite a few different materials has nonetheless evoked the problem of their cohesion, which was eventually solved by the adjustment of their tonality. The project also aims at repairing the existing urban landscape by closing the city block. Having selected a narrow plot situated at a city block end, the student has developed an idea of the new building becoming its glasscase, seemingly mounted over blind walls of the neighboring dwellings. To make this impression even more convincing, the new building's height has been adjusted to its existing neighbors. B. When products are artifacts. Resulting from the same commitment of creative industry architecture to express the enterprise's technology profile, however very different when it comes to its basic principles, is the design approach where the final product does not evidently influence the building's form, but it plays the role of an exhibit. For example, in the project of Neon Lights Factory by Marta Nowak (fig. 3) the neon lights are displayed on the building's facades, highlighting the corners of its rectangular volumes. Other than that, the building could easily contain another branch of industry. Located on the city's outskirts, the project aims at responding to the problem of the area's degradation due to the discontinuation of business. Mindfully related to the vehicle and pedestrian communication system, the project sets the existing landscape in order by reorganizing green spaces and reconciling them with urban structure. C. Inside-out. The facade as a living story. Another way to approach the design for a creative industry plant is to provide, in a most simple way, a convenient space for the technology contained within the building and to subsequently wrap it with a facade fabrics. In its turn, the facade tells the story about what is happening inside the building by means of its structure, materials selection and detailing. A proper example of such design attitude is represented by the project of Fashion House by Kaia Korpa (fig. 4). Having selected a narrow and elongated downtown plot, the student has focused on elaborating such facade finishing system that would express the aesthetic philosophy of the fashion company to be installed within the building. Making reference to the fashion design's innovative ways of working with textiles, she decided to shield the facade with fabrics forming uniform pleats. The shield can be unveiled at an angle like a curtain so as to regulate the amount of sunlight falling inside. While stretched to a maximum coverage, the shield works as a sun filtering screen, giving lots of natural light without the glaring effect. Similar approach is represented in the design of Fashion Atelier by Miłosz Korczak (fig. 5). Right from the project's start, the selected corner location has imposed various problems which at the same time became tangible guidelines for the form composition. Particularly, the two different cornice levels on the site's opposite sides gave as a result the building's height graduation. Then, a need to naturally complete the city block was an impulse to propose the building division into three volumes, the proportions of which correspond to those of older buildings in the neighborhood. Finally, the student found inspiration in the shape of courtyards and has skillfully transformed them into his design. The context-sensitive Fig. 4. Fashion House by K. Korpa, PUT. North facade. 20 Journal of Engineering Technology (JET) Vol.4 No.1, August 2016

4 composition of building's form might feel contradicted by its modern facade. Covered with black, perforated panels, the elegant and simple elevation is meant to express the enterprise's identity, while the perforation motif was inspired by the houndstooth pattern, popular on textiles. Reconciling the investor's natural desire to stand out with the architect's scope to improve city's landscape, this project is a great example of how plastic the creative industries are when it comes to combining economic and aesthetic goals within one edifice. Another representative example of the facade focused design approach is the project of Stained Glass Studio by Wiktoria Przedpełska (fig. 6). The titanium zinc framing, which divides the building's elevations into vertical stripes, was actually inspired by the net of lead elements forming the stained glass' structure. Moreover, the light diffusing effect of stained glass has inspired the idea of openwork panels mounted over a portion of facade's surface. Finally, massive wooden frames installed within the facade make reference to the concept of framing a work of art. While the building's facade is intended to express the activity housed inside, its volume is unreservedly adjusted to the area's spatial characteristics. Searching for an equilibrium with the area's modest yet historical character, the project also aims at improving its degraded landscape. When it comes to the selected function, a stained glass manufacture that the building houses was modeled on an existing family-run artisan atelier, offering a whole range of professionally executed products despite the very limited spatial conditions. Covering all production stages, the new building can also be visited as a living museum, playing a culture-making role within its neighborhood. Multifunctional despite its small scale, the building serves as a cultural centre in its neighborhood and supports its social and economical activation. The design approach focused on making the facade express building's function is equally feasible for larger-scale suburban factories. Freestanding and stretched horizontally, they are usually divided into two volumes, one housing production line, equipments and facilities for employees, while the other remains reserved for quiet, office-based departments. The advantage of opting for a facade oriented design in such cases is that even a simple, economical form can be quite easily transformed into a landmark by applying an individualized skin. Inspired by the industrial branch housed inside, the unique facade design will distinguish the building from its surrounding, without a great risk of making the landscape chaotic. The building's skin can be individualized by different means, for example by its detailing, as in the case of Bicycle Factory designed by Natalia Okraska and Zuzanna Pikuła. Having decided to use simple volumes, the students searched for a way to let the building's purpose discreetly appear on its outside. Inspired by the form of a bicycle wheel with its spokes, they have elaborated a graphical method of rescaling and superposing these elements in order to create an abstract, linear design. Subsequently, this design is applied onto the surface of elevations so as to define the positioning of metal rods and cables that form a net on which climbing plants will grow. The use of greenery on the building's facades is intended to make reference to the bicycle as ecological means of transportation. Another way to differentiate a large-scale creative industry plant is by dividing its vertical surfaces into planes, or areas, that will form an appropriate graphical image so as to recall the concerned industry branch. This method was used by Łukasz Pawłuś in his design of Publishing House (fig. 7). Resulting from extensive functional program, the building's scale required a fragmentation of its volumes. The idea to introduce vertical divisions overlapped with a formal inspiration of books arranged on a bookshelf. Imitating their arbitrary positions and angles, narrow window slits divide the opaque walls of the production hall, while the glazed front facade of the representative space is adequately divided with concrete columns. Seemingly accidental, these vertical stripes create a rhythm, which has been graphically converted to be used as the firm's trademark. Fig. 5. Fashion Atelier by M. Korczak, PUT. North facade. Fig. 6. Stained Glass Studio by W. Przedpełska, PUT. Facade design principles and view. 21 Journal of Engineering Technology (JET) Vol.4 No.1, August 2016

5 Dr. Marta Pieczara Fig. 7. Publishing House by Ł. Pawłuś. South facade. C. The nature of materials. The design can equally depart from a context-sensitive approach, aiming at the urban landscape's improvement in the first place. Besides the basic principles of volume and height adjustment, this attitude is characterized by a thorough research of such finishing materials that will make the building's facade most sympathetic to its environment. This goal is usually achieved by adjusting the nature, the color and the tonality of finishing materials the existing context. At the same time, however, the materials selection shall respond to the need of representing the building's function as well as allow the use of modern architectural language. For example, some recent implementations as well as some student's projects found interest in blending the corten into a historical brick background, like in the design of Bakery Confectionery by Zuzanna Pikuła (fig. 8). Located within an old neighborhood, this project was from the beginning marked by the prudent attitude towards the context. Having identified a multitude of brick tenement buildings in proximity, the student decided to refer to them. Following the principle of opposition, she resigned however from using brick. Instead, the building's elevations are covered with corten sheets in which rectangular, brick-sized shapes have been perforated. The author has also rethought the choice of production profile, with an objective to identify one that would be most empathetic to the district's modest character. Unlike large-scale bakeries, this one is conceived as a place of artistic creation and interaction, covering all production stages from a concept to packing. this concept and, at the same time, taking into consideration the need to provide natural light to the workplaces, the student developed an idea to cover the elevations with finely perforated panels. The design's next stage involved many visualizations which aimed at identifying a finishing material that would compliment the neighboring brick dwellings. The final choice fell on corten as the most sympathetic one. Among the design principles focused on the building materials we can also classify a purely ideological approach to their nature and source. This attitude is represented by the project of Recycled Furniture Workshop (Reciklea) by Alicja Kubicka (fig. 10). Following the selection of a branch based on recycled materials, a series of consequent choices was made. First of all, the selection of a site located within an old slaughterhouse complex, more recently transformed into a flea market and furniture renovation base, is an important statement in terms of urban revitalization. Besides its functional adjustment to the area's established character and opening new perspective for the local labor, the new development also aims at introducing novelty design, attractive for the modern society. Inspired by the typology of the site's existing architecture, the student decided to reinterpret the form of industrial nave. An important element of this interpretation is the nature of finishing materials. The combination of brick, corroded metal and aged wood makes reference to recycling as a concept, diffusing its philosophic principles. The combination of corten sheets with the historical brick neighborhood was also used by Joanna Załuska in her project of Model Workshop (fig. 9). The design's concept of an opaque, solid form with a single cut out from the ground floor to the top was inspired by maquette building process, which traditionally consisted of cutting the cardboard for elevations and subsequently applying the details. Determined to maintain Fig. 9. Model Workshop by J. Załuska, PUT. West facade. Fig. 8. Bakery Confectionery by Z.Pikuła, PUT. North facade. Fig. 10. Reciklea by A.Kubicka, PUT. South facade. 22 Journal of Engineering Technology (JET) Vol.4 No.1, August 2016

6 VI. DEVELOPING A STRATEGY. Conform with the principles of sustainable development, locating creative enterprises within a city can become a potential strategy for social activation and for urban landscape's improvement. It can also help to build the capital for stable growth, securing wealth for the future. However, besides the mindful location strategy, succeeding in the urban revitalization task does also require supplying a quality architectural design, harmoniously fitted into its contextual frame. Providing such a work of architecture can be aided by adopting one of the four examined design methods. It could be a Venturi-inspired approach, which leads to designing a 3-D form symbolizing the chosen industry branch, or the facade-oriented approach, attributing the communication role to the building's skin. In order to broadcast the building's function to the outside, its skin can be individualized by various means, for example by its detailing, divisions or by finishing materials. As we have seen, the materials selection can respond to two design attitudes at the same time: the one tending to express the chosen creative industry branch, while the other remains focused on fitting the context. All of the mentioned design methods can potentially help to achieve positive results when it comes to the architecture, however the project's final judgement will rely on the building's relationship to its contextual environment. In order to succeed in the revitalization task, both the emplacement and the design of the downtown creative enterprises need to be subjected to a number of rules. Most importantly, from the point of view of the urban landscape's protection, any new development needs to respect the district's characteristic spatial features, the most important of which are the building scale, height and proportions. In this matter, a great advantage of choosing a creative industry branch as the Fig. 11. Proposed location of new creative industry buildings within the city of Poznań, Poland. investment's profile is the fact that creative enterprises can adopt different forms and sizes and therefore adjust to the environment more easily than many other functions, including housing or commercial complexes. Moreover, the notion of urban revitalization also calls for a mindful reflection when it comes to the selection of finishing materials. Bold or background, new building's facade is in every case a response to the context and it should positively add to it, even by an opposition, rather than disregard it. Nevertheless, fitting into contextual frame and positively revising the urban landscape does not necessarily oblige the architect to the conformity and the architectural expression remains unlimited. As it can be observed on the provided examples, getting the building's volume, height and proportions right is far more essential. Although presented projects do admittedly overtake the financial possibilities of most domestic entrepreneurs nowadays, they are not entirely out of reach, as it can be observed in developed countries. The aim of including this subject into the training program for architecture students is therefore to examine such a strategy for the upcoming future. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Wojciech Bonenberg who has developed the guidelines and the theoretical background of the subject I am currently working on with architecture students at Poznan University of Technology (PUT). I must also acknowledge the students whose projects supported this writing and whose drawings helped to illustrate it. REFERENCES [1] Bonenberg W., Przemysł w Mieście. Ekologiczna metoda modernizacji zakładów przemysłowych zlokalizowanych na obszarach intensywnie zurbanizowanych, Zeszyty Naukowe Politechniki Śląskiej, Gliwice [2] Cherbo J., Wyszomirski M. (eds), The Public Life of the Arts in America, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ [3] Drury J., Factories. Planning, Design and Modernisation, The Architectural Press, London [4] Gehl J., Life between buildings. Using Public Space, trans. Koch J., Island Press, London [5] Lyndon D. and Moore Ch. W., Chambers for A Memory Place, with illustrations by the authors, The MIT Press, Cambridge MA, [6] Stiasny G., Od Mordoru do start-upu. Nowe miejsca pracy, [in:] Architektura Murator, 03/2016//258, Warszawa, p [7] Smoleń M., Przemysły kultury. Wpływ na rozwój miast, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Kraków, [8] Szparkowski Z., Architektura współczesnej fabryki, Oficyna Wydawnicza Politechniki Warszawskiej, Warszawa [9] Venturi R., Scott Brown D. and Izenour S., Learning from Las Vegas: The forgotten symbolism of architectural form, Revised edition, The MIT Press, Cambridge MA [10] Webber M.J., Location of Manufacturing Activity in Cities, [in:] Urban Geography, Volume 3, Issue 3, Journal of Engineering Technology (JET) Vol.4 No.1, August 2016