The Model as the Method
Precedent-based architectural design exploration and communication
Jack Breen with Bram van Borselen [email protected]
Form & Modelling Studies Faculty of Architecture Delft University of Technology Delft, The Netherlands
Topics: Communication & Education; Vision & Information; Investigation & Representation; Medium & Method; Analysis & Interpretation; Physical & Digital Media Convergence; Case-based Formal Studies.
Introduction:
As the disciplines of architecture involve the – projective and/or reflective – scrutiny and investigation of spatial
concepts and structures that are not easily captured and conveyed imaginatively with words, designers and scholars of architecture are inclined to resort to visual modes of communication.
Design-based imaging stimulates the sharing of information, offering different ‘actors’ in the design- or research process at hand conditioned insights into the subject matter, triggering individual and collective understandings. Such ‘visualisations’ tend to stimulate intellectual and/or emotional responses and lead to targeted (re)actions, which in turn may influence and even alter the composition or conception of the architectural entity under consideration. This bias towards visual modes of expression is arguably characteristic of architectural Practice and increasingly of design Research, but perhaps most significantly: the ‘in-between realm’ of design Education…
The representational instrument that is frequently given a prominent status is the architectural Drawing, which is sometimes attributed an almost mythical status. Another ‘leading medium’ is undoubtedly the architectural Model, which in particular ways can be perceptually even more appealing than the drawing.
In recent years the traditional distinction between these two fundamental ‘means of communication’ has increasingly become blurred, with the evolvement of various ‘crossover media’, such as digital 3D model ‘sketching’ and physical modelling involving digital manufacturing platforms. Design communication devices such as these tend to incorporate attributes of traditional modelling as well as drawing, whereby the emphasis may shift from the picturesque to the symbolic, from the analytical to the conceptual.
The (inter)active utilisation of design media has become an intrinsic condition of the method in design driven enquiry, whether the focus of study is generating ‘form’ or understanding the workings of design artefacts.
The intention of this papers is to explore the currently shifting design communication paradigms and discuss the opportunities of contemporary modelling approaches – physical as well as digital – for the benefit of architectural exploration, focusing on a case-based study carried out in an educational environment: the AA Variations project.
Studying and communicating architectural design
How should architectural composition be considered in an educational perspective?
What sorts of characteristic aspects and ‘layers’ of design ought to be identified and defined if there is to be more objectivity in the debate and research concerning the formal issues of architectural design?
A worthwhile approach to get behind the kinds of issues that make architecture ‘tick’ may be by ‘designing’ analytical,
case based studies, making use of the working methods of design.
This contribution explores the perspectives for such research by design in order to explore and identify design
conceptions. The method was to study design precedents though ‘designerly’ modes of enquiry, in such a way that more light might be thrown on the workings and effects of design decisions in order to bring more objectivity and rigour into the domain of design discourse. On the basis of a preconceived ‘structure’ of compositional themes, a series of analyses was carried out, focussing on different compositional attributes, making active use of various ‘instruments’ of design…
Instruments of design driven study
Various types of visualisation techniques may be made instrumental when studying architectural design artefacts in the broadest sense.
The most prominent means of design notation has traditionally been (and arguably still is) the drawing. For generations students of design have become acquainted with different types of drawings, such as: plans; sections; elevations; isometric projections; perspectives, from explorative freehand sketches to precisely measured, technical drawings. However, designers have not relied solely on drawings. They have proved inventive in developing or adapting a wide range of other design ‘instruments’ for their aims, such as: models (both physical and conceptual); schemes; diagrams; collages; photomontages and audiovisual productions; employing various codes, symbols and legends.
In recent years, the scope of design media has expanded enormously through the introduction of computer based platforms. The computer – as a piece of hardware – should not to be considered a medium, but rather a framework,
attention, in recent years various forms of virtual modelling and image manipulation have greatly expanded the creative ‘palette’ of the contemporary designer. Interestingly, the introduction of such tools has led to more personal and varied working methods, whereby active use is made of different combinations of imaging techniques.
Some years ago the author made an attempt to ‘map’ these various design media applications in a survey consisting of clusters of media applications, organised in four – interrelated – levels.
A brief indication of the four ‘layers’, which formed the basis of this Design Media typology: - Drawing : Documentation-, Presentation- and Perspective Drawing, Sketching; - Picture : Photography, Film, Collage, Simulation Views, Reference Images; - Model : Scale Model, Virtual Model; Conceptual Model; Deconstruction Model; - Symbol : Sign, Text, Scheme, Diagram, Logo, Graphics and Information Design.
Shifting media approaches
Physical mediahave not been replaced by computerised design media, as was predicted by many ‘experts’ some years ago, although it is undoubtedly true that computer-driven media have largely taken over the role of particular
techniques, such as that of traditional technical drafting. ‘Tangible’ design media, such as sketching and physical modelling, figure prominently in design education as well as in practice.
One of the most interesting media developments in recent years has been the increased tendency towards using different sorts of media in conjunction, digital as well as physical. Trend-setting designers – and students – freely mix
their tools, which have thereby become truly interactive multi-media. Studies making use of such mixed media platforms stimulate more structured – and imaginative – approaches to professional design as well as to architectural education and research. In addition, computer-based techniques for the realisation of physical models (notably: rapid prototyping, computer aided milling and laser-cutting) has given the physical model a new lease of life.
In the wake of relatively ‘heavy’ computer modelling applications there has recently been an influx of new computer based 3D ‘Sketch’ software. The interesting thing is that such approaches do not only try to ‘mimic’ traditional sketching via a computer interface, but also introduce a new kind of sketching, as a logical progression from existing computer 3D modelling techniques.
Such applications do not only play a serious role in the ‘idea’ phases of design, but also in design analysis and
research. In the AA Variations study discussed here computer-aided physical modelling (using the faculty’s CAM-lab facilities) and computer-based ‘sketch’ modelling has become an intrinsic aspect of the method of study.
The AA Casus
The design artefacts which form the basis of the AA Variations study are all to be found within one Dutch municipality: the market gardening community of Aalsmeer (hence: the AA Variations).
Up to recently this village, situated in the vicinity of the capital city of Amsterdam, managed to remain a relatively coherent, predominantly agrarian enclave. Due to its strategic location and environmental conditions – notably fertile fields intersected by water (which initially played an important role in the transportation of goods) – the borough gained prominence as a flower growing and trading centre. From the beginning of the twentieth century this led to a measure of affluence, enhanced by the predominantly Calvinist ethical and economic climate and a strong cooperative movement. The commercial growth, brought about by the flower trade and the growing importance of water sports and recreation, led to the building of new market gardener’s houses, auction facilities, yards and small-scale business ventures. Particularly during the ‘booming’ twenties and early thirties a number of ‘young and coming’ Dutch architects contributed works of interest to the built environment of the municipality.
The AA Variations project as a whole encompasses the compositional study of some 10 freestanding buildings, spanning a period of over a century. These projects have been selected for the AA case-study programme on the basis of their architectural qualities, more or less as representatives for different aesthetic paradigms, or ‘styles’.
In a nutshell, the 10 AA projects may be characterised as follows: - Traditional Vernacular (approx. 1825);
- Dutch Eclecticism (1903); - Early Rationalism (1912); - Amsterdam School (1923); - Early Modernism (1924); - Early Neo-vernacular (1926); - Pre-war Modernism (1930); - Late Neo-vernacular (1957); - Post-war Modernism (1970); - Nineties-plus Neo-modernism (1990 – 2006).
Each of these artefacts is studied on different, interrelated, compositional levels: > Form < > (Structure) < > Façade < > (Materialisation) < > Feature <
Fig. 1. The AA Variations projects, with their realisation dates, indicating the four selected projects (P1 – P4).
Selected AA Projects
For this particular composition and visualisation study, four specific projects were selected as ‘samples’ for imaginative exploration experiments:
- Project 1: Amsterdam School, 1923, architect: de Klerk;
- Project 2: Early Modernism, 1924, architects: Duiker and Bijvoet; - Project 3: Pre-war Modernism, 1930, architect: Wiebenga;
- Project 4: Nineties-plus neo-modernism, 1990 – 2006, architects: Baneke and van der Hoeven.
In the following paragraphs each of these four projects is characterised briefly on the level of context, composition and visualisation.
Fig. 2. Overview of the four selected AA projects. Top: Projects 1 and 2. Bottom: Projects 3 and 4.
Project 1: Amsterdam School, 1923, de Klerk
Themes: Complexity and Expression
- Context:
This market gardener’s home with integrated flower shed is exemplary of the Expressionist ‘Amsterdam’ school of architectural design, a group of architects mainly renowned for their urban architecture projects in the city of
Amsterdam. This house is the last projects of the – then influential – group’s most renowned architect, Michel de Klerk and was completed shortly after his early death in 1923.
Fig. 3. Project 1 (de Klerk): Model analysis sequence 1 (southeast view).
- Composition:
The overall form brings together the two functional domains: flower shed and living space (including services and bedrooms). The overall composition (the result of several intermediate designs) is ambitious, complex and perceptually adventurous: a strategic collection of geometric forms, held together by a very characteristic pitched roof construction. A variety of living spaces is concentrated around a central corridor, which is reached via the ‘in between realm’ route of its external entrance area. Within the design, different rooms are given individual treatments, expressed in a variety of umbrella-like ceiling forms. The composition of functional spaces can as it were be read as a cluster of ‘tents’, with specific expressive interior elements such as hearths and cupboards. The result of this spatial treatment per room is that there is considerable ‘lost’ space to be found under the roof construction, which works as a visually binding element in the manifestation of the building as a whole.
Structurally, the building is far from systematic, with apparently ‘ad hoc’ solutions on the level of construction, with the flower shed as the most ‘straightforward’ element.
The prevailing complexity in the interior is mirrored in the building’s façades. Rather than having one binding theme, the façade composition seems to change character constantly around its periphery, albeit with a skilfully expressive vernacular treatment. Visually captivating is the long bay window ‘wrapped’ around the front façade, connecting different interior domains. Similarly, the route towards the main entrance and the sculptural connection between the kitchen area and the main shed has been worked out with lively detailing and the accentuation of special features, such as lamps. Although the windows have diverse treatments, subdivisions, corner solutions and articulations on the levels of measurement and profiling, the expressive affluence – bordering on ‘overkill’ – is kept in check by a measure of order and repetition in the basic window frames.
Fig. 4. Project 1 (de Klerk): Model analysis sequence 2 (northwest view).
- Assessment and visualisation:
The project is a fascinating, if arguably somewhat overdone exercise in architectural expression and variation. In the AA project, the de Klerk house has been studied in different ways, resulting in physical models (employing manual and digital techniques). It is shown here as a digital ‘sketch’ model. Because of the overwhelming variety in spatial conditions, structural solutions, material articulations and ornamental details, it proved extremely worthwhile (though difficult) to ‘re-construct’ the artefact in the form of a (digital) model. In the process of study, using original drawings and old and new photographs, several visits proved necessary to ‘unravel’ the composition’s (hidden) secrets. The model image series shows a step-by-step build up of characteristic themes, from overall formal set-up, via different levels of construction towards the architectural object as realised.
Project 2: Early Modernism, 1924, Duiker and Bijvoet
Themes: Structure and Skin
- Context:
This market gardener’s home is similar in programme to Project 1, which was realised a year earlier, but is far more modest in its organisation and execution. Although relatively unimposing, the house represents a kind of turning point in the evolvement of the early Modern Movement.
This is especially the case in the context of the professional development of its two young architects, Johannes Duiker and Bernard Bijvoet, who would soon go on to create some of the most enduring icons of Dutch modernist architecture, such as the Zonnestraal sanatorium, the Cineac cinema, the Nirvana apartment block, the Gooiland theatre and the Maison de Verre in Paris (Bijvoet in collaboration with Pierre Chareau). The house marks the transition from their early production – largely inspired by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright – to their ‘mature’ Functionalist phase.
Fig. 5. Project 2 (Duiker and Bijvoet): Model analysis sequence 1 (southwest view).
Fig. 6. Project 2 (Duiker and Bijvoet): Model analysis sequence 2: construction, windows and cladding (southwest and northeast views).
- Composition:
The elementary formal composition consists of a juxtaposition of five geometric volumes; four rectangular volumes with pitched roofs, constructed as wood-frame structures, plus a contrasting circular stone tower with a similar top angle, containing the stairway. Two of the volumes have been shifted relative to the main body of the house in such a way as to accentuate the main entrance and create a modest sun parlour, adjoining the living room.
Due to the emphasis on the geometric composition and the interplay of the slanting roofs, the building comes across as a concise, ‘sculptural’ object. The effect of unity is strengthened by an all-enveloping ‘curtain’ wall, a rather unique combination of horizontal wooden planks and bands of steel windows with regular subdivisions. The relatively ‘heavy’ brickwork cylindrical tower forms a distinctively contrasting element to the wooden structure and acts as the ‘core’ component of the design as a whole.
From the wooden, load bearing and façade bearing, structures to the steel windows, the building as a composition is ‘organised’ using a systematically applied measurement system of 50 cm. Within this framework there is nonetheless room for controlled variation, whereby the overall ‘lightness’ of the object’s spatial structure is emphasised by ‘open’ corners in the bands of windows. Whereas the overall aesthetic is one of smooth, clear-cut geometries, with ‘flat’, industrial detailing, there is room for some more playfully expressive elements, notably in the materialisation of the two verandas.
Built with very modest means, the house quickly deteriorated and gradually fell into disrepair. After it had become no more than a figment of its former self, the original configuration was reconstructed in an extensive restoration project in the late 1980’s.
- Assessment and visualisation:
Perhaps due to its somewhat uncharacteristic formal grammar and materialisation, the ‘Duiker’ house has taken in a special place in the catalogue of modernist architecture and has been published extensively. Due to its position as an aesthetic paradigm shift, the house continues to be considered of interest, and … worthy of study.
In the context of a retrospective overview of the work of Duiker, a model was made of the timber frame construction. More recently students studied the project by making a detailed, physical scale model. In the model drawings presented here, the emphasis lies on the formal components and the different ‘layers’ in the buildings constructional and spatial composition, particularly the wooden load bearing and façade structure, in combination with the steel windows.
Project 3: Pre-war Modernism, 1930, Wiebenga
Themes: Object and Opening
- Context:
This provocatively modernist home for a municipal secretary was built in 1930 by Jan Gerko Wiebenga, architect and structural engineer, who collaborated extensively with Duiker and Bijvoet and other modernist architects of the era. As an ‘exemplary’ statement of pre-war Modernist aesthetics, this relatively compact Functionalist house was – and indeed still is – a somewhat anomalous artefact in its predominantly traditionalist, rural surroundings.
- Composition:
Essentially the house consists of a straightforward, rectangular block of two storeys. There is a small addition to one of its shorter sides (the entrance) and a ‘bite’ out of one corner on the first floor (highlighting the staircase).
Although the seemingly ‘floating’ white volume of the first floor largely determines the overall ‘modern’ appearance, the construction itself is relatively traditional, as the house has mainly been executed in brickwork.
A peripheral concrete beam, supported on the brick wall of the ground floor, separates the first and second building levels. In the lower part of the house the load-bearing wall is visually in evidence, but the beam and the walls of the top floor are covered with white stucco.
Apart from allowing the architect to make relatively large openings in ground floor walls, the function of the beam is to make possible another characteristic of this house (and indeed: the work of Wiebenga): the extremely thin, cantilevered balconies with ‘industrial’ steel railings. These two balconies – particularly the one above the corner-window at the rear – catch the eye and contribute to the boundary-shifting image of the house. As in the work of Duiker and Bijvoet, windows are ‘folded around’ to ‘lighten’ the corners.
Another notable compositional aspect is the more or less ‘autonomous’ corner element housing the staircase. This transparent, architectural feature (reminiscent of the work of Brinkman and van der Vlugt) is used to visually identify
and highlight the ‘functional’ element of the stairs in a conspicuously expressive fashion. Whilst the material treatment and detailing of the staircase emphasises its lightness and transparency, a pronounced rim, consisting of dark horizontal tiles, caps the main body of the house.
Due to the dedication of the house’s owners – who continue to maintain its original qualities – the house remains largely in its original state.
- Assessment and visualisation:
Though modest in ambition and design this house can be ‘read’ as a clear demonstration of functionalist ideals and aesthetics, from the overall formal configuration down to the characteristically modernist details.
In the context of a study of the oeuvre of Wiebenga, an exhibition model was made which offers clear insights into the realised building as a whole. The model drawings presented here are intended to give an indication of the systematic build-up of the project, technically as well as compositionally.
Fig. 7. Project 3 (Wiebenga): Model analysis sequence showing build-up and views from two orientations (northwest and southeast).
Project 4: Nineties-plus neo-modernism, 1990 – 2006, Baneke van der Hoeven
Themes: Transformation and Articulation
- Context:
This generously proportioned, freestanding home is the result of a sequence of architectural interventions over a number of decennia. The last, defining, steps of which are the responsibility of the Amsterdam-based architectural firm of Baneke van de Hoeven.
The first step in the ‘growth’ of this project took place around 1960, when architect Dupon extended the original, small house in the neo-traditionalist style of the ‘Delft school’. Subsequently, the house has undergone two sweeping transformations at the hands of Baneke van der Hoeven.
In the first of these interventions (around 1990), the then existing ensemble was enhanced with a spacious neo-modernist extension and remodelling of the garden. In the second, recent transformation the original house was demolished and replaced by a seemingly massive, two-storey block on the street side.
The house is interesting because it can de read as a manifestation of changing aesthetic paradigms whilst managing to convince as an – experientially rich –compositional whole.
- Composition:
The end result of the two latest interventions is a synthesis of different building parts, which are ‘held together’ by the long linear axis of a central hallway. For the most part, the perception of the design is characterised by horizontality. With the exception of the new ‘block’, the house is only one storey high. This horizontality is accentuated by the central axis, which opens up to the new living area on the garden side. This corridor is also visible from the street side, though closed to direct views by vertical, translucent glass elements.
Fig.8. Project 4 (Baneke and van der Hoeven): Model analysis sequence showing build-up and views from two orientations (northwest and southeast).
Perpendicular to this ‘glass wall’, a concrete wall forms the boundary to the neighbouring lot. Bringing these elements and the open plan living area together is the pronounced horizontal plane of the roof. The formal articulation is playfully modernist, complete with an oval ‘cut-out’ above the covered terrace.
The latest addition forms a marked contrast with this ‘open-plan’ extension: it comes across as a hard, closed ‘box’, executed in dark grey stone with features in grey zinc, intended to emphasise the quality of a ‘massive’ object. Yet, this apparent ‘solidity’ is relative… The box is perforated in different ways, allowing for the strategic interplay of light and the visual experiences of different heights and views throughout the interior spaces.
At the other side of the main axis, the composition is given an ‘ending’ with a kitchen space and a small dining room with an orientation upon the garden. The binding element of the hallway is emphasised once again by the return of translucent glass elements on this side of the ‘closed box’.
The overall effect is one of a consciously orchestrated clustering of architectural elements and spatial continuity throughout the interior, punctuated by changing views of the exterior.
- Assessment and visualisation:
In several ways this ‘new’ house can be seen as a counterpart of the Expressionist de Klerk house.
There is considerable variety in spatial conditions and experiential sequencing as well as generous exploitation of (contrasting) material qualities and attention to expressive detailing.
The ‘style’ here however is convincingly contemporary, an adventurous mix of somewhat eclectic ‘fin-de siècle’ Neo Modernism and 2000+ ‘Sculpturalism’.
In the model drawing sequence the emphasis lies upon the sequential build-up of the basic compositional elements and the interplay of the building’s visual characteristics from the two main orientations: the street side and the garden side.
The Model as the Method…
In this project students and research assistants were stimulated to unravel the compositional issues of a collection of design artefacts using ‘designerly’ modes of enquiry.
In such an undertaking, the utilisation of different media techniques (often in combination) is considered to be an indispensable attribute of the research methodology. The active ‘design like’ approach proved worthwhile in the exploration of the kinds of compositional features and themes that figure prominently in architectural design and perception.
Although this should perhaps not have come as a surprise, one of the most poignant observations has been how – in these projects at least – tectonic and aesthetic conventions appear to be closely linked.
Apart from physical modelling (increasingly involving computer-aided production techniques), the integration of – more and more ‘tangible’ – computer aided ‘sketch’ modelling techniques proved to be a particularly useful instrument for systematic exploration and imaginative communication.
Essentially, such an approach involves iterative cycles of de-composing and re-composing the project at hand. In this context one of the most indispensable qualities of these kinds of modelling software is the ability to ‘construct’ the model in different layers which can be (de)activated at will, offering different ‘views’ of the object which can then be compared systematically and sequenced for the benefit of presentation and evaluation.
An important asset of such – new generation – modes of 3D modelling software is the directness and intuitive sensibility, comparable to ‘traditional’ techniques, such as free hand sketching. Working within the ‘environment’ of the computer, yet with the possibility of appealing – line – drawings as output!
An insightful modelling method, deserving to be developed and applied further in the context of the ongoing ‘AA’ initiative as well as in other precedent-based architectural studies in the near future…
