Photo credits:http://www.archdaily.com/38196/never-never-land-house-andres-jaque-arquitectos/

Case Study_Never Never Land House /Andres Jaque Architects

Reading_Form and Function Follow Climate/Philippe Rahma

Never Never Land House  was built on a 1300 square meter allotment in the Cala Vadella Valley of Ibiza. Home explores the roll played by architecture, as a practice of technological restitution of social relations, combination of intimate sphere with the sphere of collective action. Based on hedonist tradition of suburban swimming pools in Santa Monica and “extreme happiness” related to electronic music and synthetic  drug consumption. In order to maintain the natural environment  80 percent of the house has been raised on the pillars above the ground.  Analyzing the house with  relational logic we can notice some similarities with: 1.Metaphorphical Logic-columns as branches, solid form as illustration of crown 2.Environmental-system by energy 3.Positional-trees organized as architecture, included in the house as a part of composition.

It is generally known that architecture is the art of designing, planning, and construction. Product architecture or architectural workers reflected the thinking of its creator, architect of the ideas and concepts of architecture, able to understand the priorities  in achieving the goal. However, certain parts of architectural achievement depends on economic opportunities and social consciousness. Looking at the history, we can say that the form and function changed depending on the culture and the period in which they arise. Each architectural epochs as result had certain types in construction. One of the main debates throughout the history of architecture was whether focusing on the form or function.As  we all know the phrase where “Form Follows Function” (Louis Sullivan) and “Function Follows Form” (Louis Kahn).  In the case of whether the form or function of the essence of architectural work a little neglected the fact that architecture is based on the development of the technique. In view of the need to have and important determinants of self-sustaining development. Magical words are present in the architecture : energy efficiency and renewable energy.

As an example we can take Switzerland where environmental solutions focused on increasing comfort and reducing non-renewable energy sources. The Minergie standard is registered quality label for new and refurbished building. Comfort is the central theme: the comfort of the users living or working in the building. This level of comfort is made possible for high-quality building envelopes and the systematic renewal of air . Specific energy consumption is used as the main indicator to quantify the required building quality. Architecture should be seen as a variable system that is adapted to climate, time, day or night, season, space, and used in accordance with our needs and desires. We should not allow ourselves to be functional and symbolic constraints preclude the free use and interpretation. Openness towards unexplored dimensions where the architect experimenting with time, space, matter is important.
Houses of the old neighborhoods of Baghdad, has interior spaces that varied in temperature. That is good example for climate quality rather than function. Aim is actualizing relationship between architecture and climate, natural or artificial in the era of sustainable development. If we take into account the typology of the building, there are many places for housing whose functions are obsolete, not in line with today’s lifestyle. Places in which we lost ability to live. Robbe Grillet indeed denounced “the tyranny of significations”.  Its better to present physical climatic, geographic and physiological spaces and time. Architecture replaces functional and symbolic constraints with freedom of use and interpretation.

As conclusion I can say that in the design of the house more attention should have been devoted to coordinate form and function parameters, other polluting energy spatiotemporal.
House is more based on personal expression and needs, in this case the intended fleeting romance and everyday sunset parties, thus not based on technical information. Nature has been interpreted through architecture for centuries in various ways .In my opinion architecture would not be perceived as a form and function  individually, their primary issue is not the design of spatial boundaries, and not the space itself, its main concern is human life. Therefore, our task is not to adapt existing markets as a key institution of modern society, but we’re working on innovation. The form and function it is necessary to include together in time, place, new technology because  we are who advocate new techniques, shapes and materials. Our ability to establish the value of the structure is proportional to our ability to recognize and use the individual properties, mutual relations, as well as the integrity of the structure. Any increase in the number of attributes which define the models increases directly and our creative ability. Of experimentation, research, use of new materials, acquiring new knowledge, depending on the time and space  these attributes are increasing daily.

Attributes that I mentioned can be fairly subjective, dependent on the personal experience of architecture. They can be ambient, decorative, ecological, economic, functional, ethical, ideological, cultural, commercial, etc. From all of this it is necessary to extract the objective attributes, which will contribute to the development of technology, the improvement of human life and comfort, interaction with nature. So I was interested in exploring objective parameters that influence on development of new technologies whose list is constantly supplemented by acquiring new knowledge and experimentation.

photo credits: http://www.archdaily.com/38196/never-never-land-house-andres-jaque-arquitectos/

Case Study_ Never Never Land / Andres Jaque Architects

Reading_ Form and Function Follow Climate / Philippe Rahm

Since ancient times, nature was an integral part of the architecture. Until today, that fact has not changed in terms of the interplay of nature and architecture, but the time has changed and is changing the way how humans, architects perceive the specified kind of relation. In advanced architecture of the 21st Century trees play a very sensitive role in the design proces, to the extent that it becomes part of the architectural ensemble.

Never Never Land house, located in Ibiza (Spain), was designed according to mentioned interplay by respecting  four guiding decisions and logics: minimum removal of existing vegetation (trees, bushes); lifting more than 80% of the building mass on piles, to prevent irritation of the soil as much as possible; grouping of all systems (for filtering and processing waste as well as water tank), that could cause spills into the subsoil, into a reinforced concrete vessel; reusing  part of the soil, that removes during the construction of the house, in a manner that the removed substrate incorporates in the building (in combination with water-retaining gelatine) allowing  the growth of plants and animals in the future. The house was imagined to depict the archipelago of islands where it was located, where each part of the house represents one of the islands. Interaction with own desires is what makes this house very provocative, even if the the whole idea is very personal architect’s vision and experience.

The mentioned fusion between architecture and its environment, as well as architecture which is supposed to reflect our desires and to be adaptable in terms of environment, weather and seasons, is very present in Phillipe Rahm’s text “Form and Function Follow Climate”, where the author primarily draws attention to the sustainable development as a phenomenon that affects invisible building structure, like ventilation and heating systems, emphasizing the problem of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels. Rahm sees sustainability as “reduction of building’s energy consumption” what requires modifications of architectural form and function. In addition, the author tends to reconcile two very different, conflicting theories. On one side is Louis Sullivan’s “form follows function” where he challenged symbolic and decorative status of architecture, defining it as an expression of programme. On the other side is quite the opposite Louis Kahn’s “function follows form” where he criticises Sullivan’s statement towards needs and activities which were deemed to be changed, by proposing a system of hierarchies where architecture was independent of the programme. Following these differences in attitudes, Rahm suggests the idea of architecture  that would spontaneously merge form and function in response to climate and which could be adapted according to seasons, weather conditions, as well as new functions and unexpected forms.

Personally, this interplay between architecture and climate I define as part of “Bioclimatic architecture” in the area of sustainable development, where i would like to pay special attention and explore modern flows of interpolating architecture with the environment, in terms of their interaction.

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The Never Never land house, a party house conveniently located at an elevation in the lush vegetation of Ibiza. This construction represents certain desires and fettishes that only translate into reality through synthetic drugs and romantic prespetives. The catalyst for the design process is unclear and premature, trying to apply positional and metaphorical relations but failing in terms of completion when it comes to sound reasonings or patterns of nature. The architect claims that the structure is interactive with the surrounding nature, that the design conserves yet interacts. However, this conversation is yet to be audible.

Switching gears into more technical literature, the “Form & Function Follow Climate” text by Philippe Rahm, explains briefly yet explicitly the relations between climate and architecture throughout time and scientific progress. He believes that meeting the needs of today should not compromise the needs of the future. By reducing the consumpiton of non renewable energy through studying the basics of space, levels and relevant variations of temperatures, man can in fact use nature to his advantage without exploiting its resources. Giving examples of how humans through time have adapted and harvested different kinds of energies from different resources without the aid of technology. As the Afghans leveled their houses and moved through spaces according to time of day or climate. To constructing mashrabeyas in Islamic regions to ventelate and circulate air. Then to the French who used “vaults” or stables as living areas to benefit from their animals heat emission.

This line of research in the broad sense is interesting as it studies the simplest ways architecture and energy harvesting correlate in different angles. To take advantage of old methods renewed through research and technology and consequently shape the future in terms of energy consumption and architecture. “Form vs Function”, and in turn, vs “Nature and Energies ” might be the simple equation superficially, yet the succesful connection between all elements would be the in depth research.

In his writing form and function follow climate Philippe Rahm suggests a new architectural concept which differs from classical approaches such as form follows function or function follows form. Rahm claims that form has to be developed in response to climate conditions and that sustainability is due to be the guideline for architectural advancement.
Rahm investigates the relationship between human and nature. He advocates a transformation of conventional spatial organization into a free space which is not limited by specific functions.

In his work, Rahm identifies sustainable development to be the essential challenge of architecture in the 21st century. In his view we have to reconsider conventional habits and patterns to establish innovative and sustainable buildings. He considers advanced technologies as part of this changing process which will eventually affect the form and function of prospective architecture.
Rahm investigates the relationship between form and function by referring to Louis Sullivan’s statement of form follows function which simplifies architecture as a spatial expression of the functional program on the one hand and Louis Kahn’s contradicting concept of function follows form which defines the functional program as flexible in response to a system of hierarchies on the other hand.
However, Rahm proposes an alternative perception of spatial organization considering the climate as a leading factor for architectural design. He states that form and function have to follow climate. In Rahm’s point of view space has to be adaptable according to season and weather conditions as well as to human needs and desires. Rahm proves that our built surroundings can be reinterpreted and functionally changed as for example the campi in Venice which were originally meant to be catching systems for rainwater, but serve as social and cultural meeting points by now.
According to his work, Rahm considers the climate as crucial for any future architectural development.
Furthermore, he questions traditional spatial organizations and proposes a concept of interpretable architecture to liberate space from function and provide individually adaptable space instead.
In conclusion, Rahm suggests to emerge function and form spontaneously according to the climatic conditions and individual needs. Architecture has to be a response to changes of the physical and cultural environment.

The case study deals with a project called Never Never Land designed by Andrés Jaque Architects located in San José, Ibiza. About 80% of the building has been raised above ground in order to preserve the natural environment. The geometric configuration is intended to sustain most of the existing trees which indicates a positional relation.
The spatial organization of Never Never Land is very unusual. Exterior and interior spaces are strongly connected to establish an interaction between architecture and the surroundings. The rooms for intimacy and those for group actions are assembled to create an open living zone.
Reconsulting the writing of Philippe Rahm it is noticeable that some of his basic ideas about advanced architecture are matching the case study project. The Never Never Land project deals with sustainability and environmental responsibility as well as with unconventional spatial planning.
Nevertheless, the project of Andrés Jaques Architects relates to the natural surroundings only superficially which is why I would not consider it as advanced architecture.

The climate change and the greenhouse gas production are currently increasing the global warming more and more. Acting environmentally respectfully and taking concepts as Rahm’s form and function follow climate in consideration during the design process has become crucially relevant. In my opinion preserving our environment and investigating in our natural surroundings is an essential part of advanced architecture.
Architecture of cities and buildings has become an element of the “ecosystem nature”. In my point of view advanced architecture means respecting this system we live in and relating to it.
I consider it as an opportunity as well as a duty to preserve our natural environment and in the best case improve it.

personal research proposal:

Rhizome is a philosophical concept developed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari as part of the Capitalism and Schizophrenia project. Rhizome is defined as a system of interaction based on the botanical rhizome. The Rhizome Theory provides a multiple, non-hierarchical classification system which follows no specific pattern or organizational regulations.
During my research I would like to investigate in the Rhizome Theory considering how it could be related to spatial and urban organization as well as to human society. In this context it will be challenging to discover how the Rhizome Theory can be related to the concept of Relational Logics.

photo credits: www.philipperahm.com

The construction industry leaves a significantly negative environmental footprint.  It is one of the main contributors of greenhouse gases production, which leads to a global environmental disaster.  How should we act to stop the ecosystem devastation before it will be too late?  What our priority should be nowadays during the design process? Phillip Rahm answers this question with two simple words:  sustainable development.

The idea of sustainability is to ensure that our present actions would not inhibit the opportunities of future generations.  Sustainable architecture must take into account future forecasts.  It should also take into consideration a limited capacity of the ecosystem and the necessity to maintain its functioning.  Nowadays, an architect has to adjust his role to space and energy use manager.  His goal is to reduce building’s non-renewable energy consumption.  His focus is not only on the esthetical aspects of the building, but also on its guts and skin.  In other words, his role is to optimize the functioning of the building as if it was a complex organism.

In the essay “Form and Function Follow Climate” Rahm presents designing priorities of the last century:  Sulivan’s dictum “form follows function” – a credo of functionalism and “function follows form”- a doctrine of Luis Kahn, who treated architecture as a system of hierarchies and relations.  Rahm opposes above statements to his designing philosophy in which form and function follow climate.  His objective is to literately built space from functional determinations, to leave it interpretable, to permit architecture to be driven by climate, leading it to discover innovative forms and functions.  The following quote is a thorough summary of his thesis:

“What we are working towards is a reversal of the traditional approach to the design in order to achieve a new spatial organization in which function and form can emerge spontaneously in response to climate”

Form and Function Follow Climate, Phillip Rahm

Case study house related to Rahm’s philosophy is called Never Never Land and was designed by Andres Jaque in 2007 on Ibiza.  It corresponds perfectly with the idea of interpretable space, liberated from functional determinations.  The main assumption of the project refers to sustainability philosophy.  Never Never Land maintains the continuity of the valley’s natural base, its arboreal mass and the cycles of matter in the soil. Designing process was started by making accurate path analysis which took into account all existing arboreal mass. The building is fitted into the free space between the greenery, raised on piles, which minimizes trees removal and disturbance to the ground.  In terms of relational logics that are given between advanced architecture and the environment, in this case we can explore the existence of positional relation.  The form put between the trees stays in strong relation with them e.g. in terms of shading.  In my opinion, there is also a disturb relation- Never Never Land shows how we can alter the relation with nature and its elements.

Is the Never Never Land a good example of advanced architecture?  In my opinion, it is not.  Architecture is always connected with other various fields.  The more connections it has, the more advance it is.  In Jaque’s design I cannot notice many other aspects than maintaining the continuity of the valley’s natural base.  Moreover, his assumption is realized without consistency.  The house is raised on piles to avoid disturbance on the ground and at the same time a huge concrete cube with tank is installed in the ground.  Other drawback is a lack of eco construction materials.  Sustainable house should not be made from tons of steel and glass.  I think that advanced architecture is about complexity which is perfectly described by the following quote from the Metapolis Dictionary of Advance Architecture: “The complexity of a real object is measured by the wealth and variety of the parts that make it up and by the wealth and variety of the different states it can take on”.

In light of the above conclusions, the area of my personal research which I would like to explore deeper is a relation between function, form and climate in housing.  This would help me to understand how these connections were established during the history, what events triggered those transformations, how these relations would look in the future and what would be their consequences.