Although we belonged to different expert groups, through our involvement with the theory of advanced architecture, we developed a high interest in non-conventional architectural boundaries and the kind of changes they could induce in architecture in matters of privacy, social interaction or even interaction of the building with the user. First, in Relational Logics The Shape of Energy of Sean Lally was our first motive towards an architectural space that is defined by forms of energy of the environment that are allowed to penetrate the building in order to be used by the architect as materials for the design of the space. Then, in Digital Logics case studies such as the Blur Building or the Rolex Learning Center introduced a whole new way of perceiving the notion of architectural boundary. In the first case, a constantly dynamic boundary and in the second the total absence of visual or acoustic boundaries that separate the indoor space of the building, challenged us to contemplate in exploring the relation between different dynamic boundaries and the architectural form generated.

One of our thoughts was flexible and ephemeral boundaries as a contradiction to the static conventional architectural ones. One application of them is the inflated structures. They use only a thin flexible membrane were only tensile loads occur and all the rest of the loading is held by a medium like air or water, a totally natural, sustainable and recyclable material. The Tea House designed by Kengo Kuma for the Frankfurt’s Museum of Applied Arts is a very interesting case study in this aspect. Also, the Media TIC of Enric Ruiz Geli could be an example of using a very simple material such as air to improve the sustainability of a structure in a larger scale.

Then we considered interactive and ephemeral boundaries which have the ability to exchange energy in various forms with their environment as well as adapt to its variations. These kind of boundaries are usually still found in installations such as the Blur Building or the Sky Ear of Usman Haque. But still they can define a very powerful boundary and an experience of the user modifying it in various ways.

This interaction between the boundary and its environment or the user intrigued as the most, so that we investigated the writings of Kas Oosterhuis. In ‘Wild Bodies’ he asserts that all true architecture inevitably will be programmed to perform in real time. Furthermore, buildings are seen as input-output devices, so that they find themselves in a state of continuous processing and adapting, a concept that was also stated in the philosophy of Deleuze for the form-finding of matter.

In order to investigate the above concepts in reality, we tried to apply some of them in an installation we made. For that reason, we used balloons, as a very light element that is filled with air, but if used in certain ways it can even produce a different kind of space and determine the movement of its users. The high flexibility of the material does not make it less important as a visual boundary while it can be still deformed easily at any time. If the ceiling of a room is covered by balloons at different heights, this kind of flexible roof can define the uses that take place under it.

Also, we tried to take advantage of a type of energy that penetrates our buildings every day and gets wasted and transform it into a useful one. For that reason we used a luminescent tape that captures the light and is being charged during the day and then releases that energy as light in the dark. This way a form of energy that is entering the space is getting exploited and affects the whole system in a dynamic way. At the same time this light is completely ephemeral.

Case Study Rolex Learning Center, Lausanne | SANAA

Text Deleuze and the Genesis of Form | Manuel de Landa

Form is an intrinsic feature of architecture. Architects and theorists of different ages have been developing various principles in order to define the form-finding procedure. Gilles Deleuze, a French philosopher, has developed his own philosophy which we are trying to conceive through the work of Manuel de Landa, Deleuze and the Genesis of Form.

According to the essay, matter has its own capability to generate forms in a way that is immanent to the matter itself. This procedure is mainly directed by the rules of mathematics, thermodynamics and is completely natural. Unlike the modernistic perception of generalization and perfection of solids, what is important for Deleuze is not the final form/ shape but the processes of morphogenesis that take place until that form is obtained. The final form is achieved as a state of inner equilibrium of the matter/material and it does not need to impose itself onto the matter from the outside. This diagrammatic operation described by Deleuze is applied onto the fields of society, geology and evolution.

In architecture, this principle could possibly be applied by studying the inner properties of the materials used and by allowing them to influence the final form of the structures.

At the Rolex Learning Center by SANAA architects, this inner equilibrium is supposed to be found by the users of the building.  It is comprised of one single fluid space of 20.000sq.m. The roof and the floor slabs undulate gently in parallel creating an artificial topography of hills and valleys with no conventional visual or sonic barriers. In this single-storey space the uses and the occupation of each space is free and defined by the inclination of the floor.

According to the architects, the movement of people is not linear but curved in an organic way, unless it is defined by strict paths. The Learning Center allows complete freedom to its users to walk, sit and occupy the space the way they want. It is almost like a park, it encourages people to choose where to go, to communicate and to develop a whole new way of learning. Although the success of this project in this aspect is doubtful, as the area to be covered is much extended and the photos available do not reveal full occupation of the space, it is a very interesting approach to design.

If we try to apply this case study in the philosophy of Deleuze, the matter that tries to reach its balance is the users of the building. The architectural form of the building is being created by human movement and occupation and only the curved background has been designed by the architects. Again, what is important here, as a principle of the function of the Learning Center, is the procedure by which people are occupying the space in order to achieve the best formation for their purpose each time – sitting, reading, discussing -, in other words the form-finding process to the equilibrium of Gilles Deleuze.

As a further research line, and as a continuation of my interest on dynamic architectural boundaries proposed by relational logics topic, I would be interested in exploring the relation between different boundaries and the architectural form generated in existing case studies as well as the successfulness of this kind of projects in terms of functionality.

Image Source http://www.architectural-review.com/buildings/rolex-learning-center-by-sanaa/8621669.article

Case study Sou Fujimoto, House N

Text Sean Lally, The shape of energy

Advanced architecture explores relations that are formed between architecture and its surroundings. Boundaries are a vital part of architecture, since the very first structures by humans, trying to get protected by the elements. Today our buildings make use of boundaries that are able to almost eliminate the influence of the changes of the environment indoors. Advanced architecture aims to restore this relationship by establishing new relational logics.

House N suggests a whole new relation between people, space and environment. Situated in a traditional Japanese neighbourhood, this exemplary building intends to visualize the contrast between the conventional housing and this new approach of space where you cannot define clearly where the outside becomes inside and vice versa. The house is comprised of three shells, each placed inside the other, defining different levels of privacy. The visual porosity of the prismatic structure enhances the feeling that the aim of Sou Fujimoto, when designing this building, was not to make an inside space rather than a gradation from the public to the private. Thus, in a time that this approach will be widely applied, the city will not be a consecutive change from indoors to outdoors but a field of gradual changes in the intensities of privacy. This way the boundary between nature and the building are blended. For Sou Fujimoto natural elements, such as trees can replace parts of the envelope of the building so that the building remains in a relationship with natural environment as well as the constant changes that occur in it.

In the text of Sean Lally, The shape of energy, the above topic of boundaries and nature is approached in a different way. Again, the architectural space is defined by forms of energy of the environment that are allowed to penetrate in order to be used by the architect as materials for the design of the space. This way architecture is directed by an energy balance equation; all forms of energy that cross the boundary of the space affect the whole system in a dynamic way which is not possible with our conventional constructing materials. In contrary to Sou Fujimoto΄s belief that architecture does not change but people and nature only change, Sean Lally envisions an architectural space that is constantly changing and adapting to the environment. Nevertheless, despite the two different theoretical approaches, the final space that would be produced has a lot in common. Even if Sou Fujimoto believes in the stability of architecture, the elements are allowed to enter his house and create a dynamic alteration of the way the user perceives and feels the space according to the parameter of time.

As future research, I would be interested in obtaining more knowledge in the topic of the dynamic architectural boundaries and explore what kind of changes they could induce in matters of privacy, social interaction or even interaction of the building with the user.

(Image Source Sean Lally, The Shape of Energy)