ARCHITECTURE
 

Within the globalized and networked culture of the late twentieth century, the Internet was popularly seen as a liquid medium which circles the planet in chaotic streams. This information flow assumes a creative power which also impacts on architecture, which is less transitory in character. "The globalized, liquid 'soft architectures' of digital media flow over, under and through the local, concrete and 'hard architectures' of our contemporary cities, creating an indeterminate, 'floating' environment, an interface between public and private, collective and subjective, provincial and planetary", writes Peter Zellner in "Hybrid Space". From this point of view, architecture forms the place where the two worlds meet, a fractal Something in which communicatively active users of the latest high-tech products organize their interfaces.

The concept of non-linear structures, which modulate out of the conventional orthogonal grid and change - if not replace - it, can be traced, in retrospect, right back to the 1920s, as a design principle which regularly asserted itself alongside a dominant culture of right angles and rigorous formal clarity. Architecture frequently incorporated forms which the viewer would happily describe as organic, and models were built which demonstrated a new understanding of space - Frederick Kiesler's "Endless House" (1959) is a case in point. The translation of these ideas into reality, however, often proved problematical. In more recent times, the advances in Computer-Aided Design have not only opened up a vast array of different options for viewing a design before it is built, but have also made it possible to produce complex patterns for numerically-controlled manufacturing. This in turn permits cost effective production methods, in particular for membrane surfaces, which are composed of individual elements all different in shape. Further options are offered by materials such as precast concrete, for which complex negative moulds can now be machine-cut out of foam.

It is the increased sophistication with which designs can be presented onscreen, even more then technical innovations in data processing, that has influenced the success of new spatial concepts. It is only when they are seen in three-dimensional computer-generated images that many ideas begin to seem both realistic and achievable.

Computer software helped the Dutch firm of NOX design a tubular exhibition pavilion for the Neeltje Jans Wasserland centre in the Netherlands (1994-1997). Right angles and clearly defined, straight surfaces are here replaced by flowing forms. It is as if the visitor has wandered into the middle of a computer game,- robbed of his usual skills of visual orientation by smooth, gleaming surfaces, glittering colours, the interactive exhibition and the lack of geometry, he has to rely on his sense of touch. "It is not en exhibition about water,- rather, the visitors become part of the water, they have to adapt their behaviour to the constantly changing surroundings." The outer shell of the building is simultaneously part of the exhibition, while conversely, interactive sounds and lights react to the movements of the visitors, so that building, exhibition and visitor become a single unity.

The Scottish-Japanese architectural duo of Ushida Findlay wants its work to be understood as the "taming of technology, not of nature". Its Truss Wall House in Tokyo blurs not just the conventional boundaries between floors, walls and ceilings, but also the transition between interior and exterior, since its flowing forms, cast in reinforced concrete, simultaneously make up internal and external walls and even large parts of the furnishings. The client, the owner of a concrete construction company, wanted the architects to make as much as possible of a building plot that was just 90 square metres in size. The solution sees the house as a here flowing and there frozen spatial continuum, in which the details provide no clue as to the scale and in which walls and ceilings are rounded into a protective cocoon. Associations with a nest suggest themselves. The design of the "Springtecture H" public conveniences by architect Shuhei Endo plays with the definition of interior and exterior, an idea which is especially perplexing in the case of a functional building such as this, and which makes it appear accessible from all sides. The architect further seeks to remove the contrast of floor, wall and roof in the flowing form. The spatial concept behind the "Mobius House" by Ben van Berkel is, as its name suggests, the Mobius strip, giving rise to an irregular ground plan and surprising spaces flowing one into another, which would have been almost impossible to create without the aid of a computer. The design reflects the cycles of sleep, work and leisure, day and night, with an internal circular passage leading through various zones. The two predominant materials, concrete and glass, complement this continuity: the concrete and tinted glass of the exterior facade are taken up again in the stairs and fixtures of the interior. Architecture here evolves out of its serving function to become a speaking installation which not only interacts with its inhabitants and its surroundings, but also verbalizes its roles in daily life and over the course of time.

Ushida Findlay Partnership.
 

Eisaku Ushida (1954) 1976 – Diplômé de l'Université de Tokyo 1999 – Professeur invité à UCLA, Los Angeles Kathryn Findlay (1953) 1979 – Diplômée de l'Architectural Association, Londres 1998 – Professeur à l'Université de Tokyo 1999 – Professeur invité à UCLA, Los Angeles 1986 – Création de Ushida Finlay Partnership à Tokyo The Tokyo-based Ushida Findlay Partnership was set up in 1987 by the Japanese architect Eisaku Ushida, graduate of Tokyo University (1976) and the Scottish architect Kathryn Findlay, who trained at the Architectural Association (1979).

Ushida Findlay Partnership. "Truss Wall Hause" in Tokyo, 1990-1993





Ushida Findlay Partnership. "Truss Wall Hause" in Tokyo





Ushida Findlay Partnership.
Kasahara Culture and Amenity Hall, Gifu Prefecture, Japan

Ben van Berkel. UNStudio/Ben van Berkel & Bos.
 

Ben van Berkel Ben van Berkel (born 1957) is a Dutch architect. He studied architecture at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, and at the Architectural Association in London, receiving the AA Diploma with Honours in 1987. Mercedes-Benz Museum, Stuttgart, GermanyIn 1988 he and Caroline Bos set up an architectural practice in Amsterdam named Van Berkel & Bos Architectuurbureau, which realized, amongst others projects, the Karbouw office building, the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam, Museum Het Valkhof in Nijmegen, the Moebius house, and the NMR facilities for the University of Utrecht. In 1998 van Berkel and Bos relaunched their practice as UNStudio, the UN standing for "United Net". UNStudio presents itself as a network of specialists in architecture, urban development and infrastructure. With UNStudio, van Berkel has built several projects, including the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, a façade and interior renovation for the Galleria Department store in Seoul, Korea, and a private villa in up-state New York. Current projects are the restructuring of the station area of Arnhem, a shopping mall renovation in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, a masterplan for Basauri, Spain, a music theatre for Graz, Austria, the design and restructuring of the Harbor Ponte Parodi in Genoa, and an apartment building in the Tribeca section of Manhattan. In 2009 New Amsterdam Pavilion in Battery Park in Manhattan was revealed.[6] The pavilion was presented to the city of New York by the Dutch government to celebrate 400 years of relations between New York and the Netherlands. Ben van Berkel has lectured and taught at several architectural schools. Currently he is Dean of the Architecture Class at the Academy of Fine Arts Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main. Central to his teaching is the inclusive approach of architectural works, integrating virtual and material organization and engineering constructions.

UNStudio/Ben van Berkel & Bos. "Mobius House" in T Gooi, The Netherlands, 1993-1997





UNStudio/Ben van Berkel & Bos. "Mobius House" in T Gooi, The Netherlands, 1993-1997





UNStudio/Ben van Berkel & Bos. "Mobius House" in T Gooi, The Netherlands, 1993-1997





"Mobius House". Plan of the ground floor





"Mobius House". Plan of the first floor





UNStudio/Ben van Berkel & Bos. Mercedes-Benz Museum, Stuttgart

Erick van Egeraat. EEA
 

Erick van Egeraat (born 27 April 1956, Amsterdam) is a Dutch architect. He is based in Rotterdam but particularly active in Germany and Russia. From 1983 till 1995 he was part of the architecture bureau Mecanoo, together with Francine Houben and other architects.

Erick van Egeraat associated architects (EEA). Headquarters of ING Bank & Nationale Nederlanded, Budapest, 1992-1994.
Cross-section




Erick van Egeraat associated architects (EEA).
Headquarters of ING Bank & Nationale Nederlanded. Interior

Lars Spuybroek. NOX
 

Lars Spuybroek (Rotterdam, 1959) is a Dutch architect and artist. He graduated cum laude at the Technical University Delft in 1989. A year later, he won the Archiprix for his Palazzo Pensile, a new royal palace for Queen Beatrix in Rotterdam. Shortly after, he started NOX-magazine with Maurice Nio, of which four issues were published in Dutch between 1991 and 1994 (A: Actiones in Distans, B: Biotech, C: Chloroform en D: Djihad). Since 1995, Lars Spuybroek is the sole principal of the office which carries the name NOX and creates buildings and artworks.

NOX architects. "freshH2O eXPO" Exhibition Pavillion at Neeltje Jans, The Netherlands, 1993-1997




NOX architects. "freshH2O eXPO" Exhibition Pavillion at Neeltje Jans, The Netherlands, 1993-1997




NOX architects. "V2 Lab" Office Interior in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 1998





NOX architects. "Son-O-House", Son en Breugel, The Netherlands, 2002-2004





NOX architects. "Son-O-House", Son en Breugel, The Netherlands, 2002-2004





"Son-O-House". Plan with visitors' movements and sensors

Shuhei Endo.
 

Shuhei Endo 1960 - Born in Japan 1986 - Obtained a master's degree at Kyoto City University of Art 1988 - Established Shuhei Endo Architect Institute 2004 - Professor at Salzbulg Summer Academy Currently professor at Graduate School of Kobe University

Shuhei Endo. "Springtecture H" in Singu-cho, Hyogo, Japan, 1998




"Springtecture H". Plan and views