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Farshid Moussavi Professor in Practice Department of Architecture |
Seminars
The Function of Systems Cities that once hosted nations now host a rich array of 'cosmopolitans' as a result of processes of globalization. Cities are no longer singular 'wholes' but molecular compositions that are differentiated and continually being redefined . Whereas the nation formerly provided cities with a singular ideal 'identity', the cosmopolitan society that inhabits the contemporary city is made up of diverse and active constellations that co-habit the city in 'connected isolations' (Sloterdijk). In place of a singular identity, cities need to provide different forms of expression that correspond to these different constellations. The molecular nature of cities, applied to buildings questions the way we relate parts to whole. What makes system appropriate today is their singular property of embracing multiple criteria and objectives at the same time given the complex nature of architectural problems and the molecular nature of the profession that divides this multiplicity into segments. Tessellation moves architectural experiments away from mechanistic notions of systems which are used as tools for re-production of forms, to machinic notions of systems that determine how diverse parts of an architectural problem interrelate, to multiply each other and produce organizations of higher degree of complexity. Unlike the simple repetition of part to whole in typology, or previous techniques based on frames, axes, proportions, or other discrete compositional instruments, tessellation allows for complex repetition through an aggregation of diverse parts. The complexity of this repetition is a function of the degree of correspondence inbuilt into the part-to-whole relationship. The seminar seeks to produce a graphic manual on tessellation. Continuing with the research last year, we examine architectural projects that have a tessellated part-whole system, extracting their protogeometric base unit that is capable of proliferating different forms according to different circumstances. Related to this, the seminar distinguishes the uses of tessellation versus modulated geometries, and therefore examine an extended list of projects involving both systems from various historical projects from the Medieval to the Modern with a major focus on Contemporary architectural production. The seminar aims to bridge architectural research and production through drawing. While there are ongoing reading and discussion on the topic and on the various case studies, graphic analytical production will be the main criteria on which grading is based. Tessellation in Architecture The seminar seeks to produce a graphic manual for the use of tessellation in architecture. We examine architectural projects, with the aim to identify how tessellation has produced consistency across multiple and differentiated functional elements of a building. The seminar aims to distinguish the uses of tessellation versus modulated geometries, and therefore examines an extended list of projects involving both systems. Particular focus is placed upon the use of geometric and repetitive forms in Islamic architecture and the use of allometric systems of ordering part to whole in Gothic architecture. The history of constructing part-to-whole relationships can be framed in two opposing directions: universal systems that tried to construct an abstract or ideal order to regulate the entirety of built form or modular systems that established rules for the flexible proliferation or combination of basic units. Universal systems of part-to-whole include the use of geometric systems of proportion in Western classical architecture, the use of perspective in the Renaissance, and the use of regulating and ordering systems connected to modes of production in Modernism. Modular systems of relating part-to-whole include Islamic architecture's use of geometrical and repetitive forms, Dutch Structuralist attempts to aggregate standard functional "units", and Robert Le Ricolais and Louis Kahn's investigations of integrated three-dimensional modular organizations. Neither the universal, nor the modular part-to-whole systems are able to exploit diversity as a contemporary architectural material as they are systems that repeat entities through an internal process, detached from the specific domains within which they would operate. In order to exploit differentiation as an architectural material, we need to look for systems of correspondence between parts and wholes that allow different entities to emerge in contact with specific domains. This capability to proliferate forms that vary according to their circumstances of use is best represented historically by Gothic architecture, based on an abstract protogeometry that, when applied to varying plan organizations, acquired specific form in each case while maintaining a consistent topological relationship between part and whole. Tessellation in architecture is an example of a part-to-whole system that can become locally specific. Tessellation is a geometric system that is able to create specific organizations/patterns through repetition of a simple set of parts against a boundary (whole). Early attempts at tessellation in Islamic architecture were periodic, based on the filling of space with regular polygons. Such attempts can now evolve into a-periodic and non-recursive part-to-whole relationships, which are still based on simple and limited parts and can vary according to domains. As such tessellation is an ideal tool for producing species, as opposed to types, that can not vary across time and space. This possibility in tessellation - to organize flexible, complex part-to-whole relationships that can become domain-specific, as well as rationalized into regular geometric panels - is precisely what makes tessellation an effective tool today, as it produces systems of relationships that are at once tied to the cultural as well as the technical domain. Tessellations can be categorized in terms of their behavior or in terms of their method of application. Whereas applications tend to fall into two basic categories of two-dimensional applications, or three-dimensional application, behaviors of different tessellation systems are more varied and include repetition or periodicity, axiality, regularity, symmetry, connectivity, self-similarity, or multi-scalarity. A taxonomy of different tessellations and their behaviors (related to part-to-whole) can allow us to select tessellations specific to the needs of architectural systems. With the aim of classifying the behavior of tessellated systems in architectural projects, we examine projects in terms of their methods of applying tessellation. An initial set of case studies—classified according to the application of tessellation in two dimensions (as envelopes, ceilings or grounds) or three-dimensions (where the module encloses space)—is provided, but are expanded in the seminar to develop other cases and methods of classification. 2D APPLICATIONS Horizontal modulations (ceilings)
Horizontal tessellations (grounds)
Vertical modulations (envelopes)
Vertical tessellations (envelopes)
Curved modulations (enclosures)
Curved tessellations (enclosures)
3D APPLICATIONS Horizontal modulations (mats)
Horizontal tessellations (mats)
Vertical modulations (towers)
Vertical tessellations (towers)
Polyhedral modulations
Polyhedral tessellations
Venice Biennale Seminar One of the major factors affecting cities in Western countries is the contemporary shift in commercial and leisure activities, and in how these are both provided for and used in the city. While in the past city governments were largely responsible for controlling the provision and mixture of public spaces, cultural programs and leisure activities in terms of the public interest, today in the US and developed European countries like the UK these functions are increasingly being determined by private corporations, through large-scale commercial developments that are remaking large sections of inner cities according to interests that may or may not align with those of the public, or with considerations of how they function in relation to the larger urban context. Almost every city centre north of London, including Leeds, Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham, Leicester, Cambridge, and Sheffield, is currently being reshaped by these retail-led developments. In these projects the public's interest is delivered through 'influence' rather than direct control, via a series of agencies such as CABE (the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, the government's advisor on architecture, urban design and public space), English Heritage, and the AUU (The Architecture and Urbanism Unit, which advises the Mayor of London on architecture and urbanism). In other words, the public's relationship with the city is a mediated one. Architects working for private corporations and developers play a key role in this process, as the first mediators that come into play with the briefs of private developers. These briefs are composed of large architectural programs originally developed for suburban areas (like the shopping mall or the cineplex) which are increasingly being built in urban contexts, raising the issue of their role in the city as large structures disconnected from the exterior realm. The challenge is how these programs can architecturally be integrated with the larger performance of their urban surroundings. The seminar aims to investigate these private commercial developments through the lens of blank typologies, envelopes and ornament that has been developed over the last two years in studio and seminar courses at the GSD. Our starting point is to expose the scale of this condition by registering statistics on key cities in the UK, for example the total amount of commercial development (money, square footage, programs, percentage of urban area), from which we would move to a specific city—London or Leeds—and then to a specific commercial development, as the object of more detailed study. The research would therefore progress from a broad survey of development in the UK to a single development, and a precise quantitative analysis of its impacts on its urban surroundings (its size in relation to the city, its programs, total square footage of "blank" envelope, open space, degree of publicity or privacy, etc.). This investigation unveils the building envelopes within these developments as key opportunities for architects to reverse their negative urban impacts into positive active public surfaces in the city. The work of the ornament seminar last semester and possibly a selection of studio projects from the last two years are an invaluable resource for this research. The goal is to tie a broad statistical analysis of these commercial developments to their specific architectural impacts on the city, a level of detail that will allow us to make use of the extensive research on envelopes and ornament that has already been conducted. Schedule: The seminar begins in the week prior to the start of the semester with a funded trip to London from September 4 to 6, when we visit various sites of development and talk with the developers and agencies responsible to understand how they are produced; through what process, with what interests, what funding, which coalitions; and to gauge their scale and effects on the city. The site visit is followed by a funded trip to Venice from September 7 to 11 for the opening of the Biennale, when we will the exhibitions and receive the brief for our research. The bulk of the work is conducted as a research seminar at the GSD in September and October, before going back to Venice from November 5 to 9 to exhibit the research together with that of the other invited schools, in a space provided in the Padiglione Italia. On November 8th, a jury awards prizes for best school / team participating in the workshop in an official Biennale awards ceremony, after which the work remains on display until the Biennale closes on November 19th. Organization: The seminar is conducted with 10 students, selected early in the summer to prepare before the first trip to London and Venice. These students conduct some preliminary research over the summer to define the theme of the work and organize the site research and meetings while in London. The students spend time with Professor Moussavi on both the London and Venice trips in September, and again in November during the installation of the exhibition. In September and October, the research at the GSD is led primarily by the Teaching Associate, Michael Kubo, with weekly or bi-weekly uploading of materials to Professor Moussavi for commentary. At the end of this period, the work focuses on formatting the work as a set of exhibition materials that can be prepared in Boston, transported to Venice and installed at the Biennale. The Function of
Ornament The seminar undertakes a survey of modern
ornament as this has been explored through building envelopes
by various architects, in order to construct a discipline for
understanding the function of ornament, dismantling the idea
that ornaments are applied to buildings as discrete or non-essential
entities. The research is directed towards understanding
an expanded materiality in architecture that includes not only
wood, steel an glass but also time, organization, economy, schedules,
functions and desires which can be combined together to produce
new material aggregates. These new material aggregates are necessary
for architecture to incorporate the extended set of functions
required of contemporary building envelopes. Ornament is the
surface expression or appearance of these material aggregates.
Whether these expressions exploit the thinness of the skin or
the depth of a building, they fundamentally exploit matter to
produce images and effects. The difference between decor and
ornament, then, is that the first produces an image or expression
known a priori, whereas the second is generated through material
organization. The initial classification of envelope types
is focused on properties of function (ornament as necessary versus
ornament as contingent), properties of position (ornament as
deep versus ornament as superficial), and properties of form
(ornament generating its form from extrinsic or intrinsic factors). |