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Case Study: Rolex Learning Center, SANAA

Text: Deleuze and the Genesis of form, MANUEL DELANDA

What does the genesis of form and structure involve? If they were created then the creator employs resources beyond the capabilities of the material substratum of the same forms and structures, sometimes imposing explicitly transcendental defining forms on infertile materials. Far-from-equilibrium thermodynamics appreciates morphogenesis where matter is an active material agent and form is not an external imposition. Form simply emerges from minimizing energy. SANAA translated a single fluid space in the Rolex Learning Center (“EPFL Learning Centre”).  The space flows from gentle slopes to terraces around internal patios. The patios open the building to the sky and the street and foster circulation, ventilation and natural light.

Realizing a possibility does not add anything to a predefined form except reality. The distinction between virtual and actual does not involve resemblance but subverts identity.

Henri Bergson saw the mechanical and linear view of causality and its implied rigid determinism as a obstacle to truly innovate. True innovation is impossible if the future is not left open-ended. The past and present are made pregnant with possibilities which become real and more importantly virtualities which become actual. The physical reality’s biggest canvas is the built form. In EPFL the walls are replaced by hills and valleys, an architectural landscape. Organised meetings are suggested through clusters of glazed bubbles. The edges of the building are invisible. Taking the architecture as a singularity it remains to be seen if the social component, a consistent aggregate of heterogeneous elements, will generate a new social class. The virtual diagram would shift to generate a new mesh of the ecosystem. But for an ecosystem to exist must not the architect allocate equal importance to the animal species within the scope of the project or simply wait for an appropriate interaction between the built and the excluded nature?

Geology boasts the oldest actualisations of virtual operations. Granite and other igneous rocks are formed not from cementation or sedimentation like sandstone but from cooling magma. Our reality is a spontaneous mesh of material and energy flows. It is important that architecture as a socially constructed world does not become an inert receptacle for external form but rather a world pregnant with virtualities that can be immortalised in literature, art and music.

Critical Analysis: House N, Oita, Japan – Sou Fujimoto

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A home for 2 plus dog. It seeks to blur the barriers of distance and separation, to satisfy privacy despite having a zero setback from the street. A nest within a nest, within a nest. The outermost box contains a yard, wooden deck, trees and garden space. The middle box contains the bathroom, interior space while the innermost box holds the bedroom, dining and living area. The trees are minimalist decoration against a white background. The intention in three dimensions overcomes the outdoor space in a number of frames that have no apparent purpose other than to exist. The structure is heavy and stands out against the neighbourhood in pristine white. The form communicates a lack of flexibility to adapt to a varied functionality.

Reading: The Shape of Energy – Sean Lally

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Outside of the static boundaries of stone, steel and glass there are boundaries in constant flux. They work in a feedback relationship with the climatic context. If architecture could go beyond mediation and these electromagnetic, thermodynamic, acoustic and chemical could be controlled and employed could they form another dimension to the physical context? Imagine if architecture could then amplify, strengthen and augment characteristics of particles and waves. It would create demarcations that are sudden and possibly geometric.

Architectural shape is a constant state of feedback between the environment and the system it produces. There is an energy balance equation where additional occupants affect the energy system. This is an open system that is affected by climate, physical boundaries and occupants. As external physical properties of surroundings fluctuate, architecture produced through amplification intensifies or abates to maintain a specified series of boundaries that are unique to the solid state.

Energy systems exist beyond the visible spectrum and require tracers to run in parallel to inform our senses similar to how condensation on a window indicates humidity or particles in air indicate harmful gas leaks in industrial plants. They can convey an image of architectural space by which we can recognise and commodify these energy systems. Shapes communicate intentions but a volume embodies uniquely different properties in different locations. Our ecosystems are dynamic and non- linear and are characterised by frequent disturbances. The existence of architecture in any working state is contingent on maintaining a balance in this system for as long as possible. Shape succession may hold boundaries and shift notion of stasis and could allow for buildings to survive earthquakes. The dialogue between action of people and character of spaces shape our social experiences. These experiences are a result of the direct contact between people, goods, social trends of economy, politics and communication that influence and re-inform each other.

Possible Research Topic – Water

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As a possible topic of research I would like to look at using water to define spaces. As one of the few materials that can exist as solid, liquid and gas it can be manipulated to produce mist sprays, steam, ice and cascades that can occupy a volume or accent a line of form for an instant or a lifetime. It can appear romantic and violent and create impact as well as suggest a mood. I think as a material, its potential  has been exploited only on the surface, of it’s infinite abilities to realize our dreams.