Twenty-first Century Architecture ABPL 1 9017 Manifesto of Ephemeral Architecture Brian Novanto 396832 Tutor: Juan Blanco

we are not built to last

Meulaboh, Indonesia, after tsunami by Jusup Sukatendel http://www.panoramio.com/photo/327 15 43

why build with such permanence?

View from Kuala Lumpur Tower by Brian Novanto Private Collection

thepremise

Architecture has always been a primary means of human survival

The first cave was built to shelter men from nature, providing a basic protection against the rain and the sun. As architecture was developed and revolutionized through the years, architecture was designed and built with strength in mind in order to perform and take charge over nature in the name of human comfort. We concrete-pave the earth, glaze building structures, and revolutionize air-conditioning technologies. The advances of engineering technology also brought about the capability to manufacture and fabricate buildings that can have more space, withstand more natural forces and go taller. Moreover, in megacities today such as Mexico and Hong Kong, residential towers are built in the densest manner possible to accommodate the demand for housing, leaving very little room for the earth to breathe.

THE NATURE OF NATURE: CHANGING South Cascade glacier in Washington state (year 2000, left, 2006, right). Photograph: USGS http://static.guim.co.uk/

Today, the notion of environment is critical in architecture. What has sparked a great concern towards the environment is the fear of nature's response towards environmental damages the human civilization has caused in the forms of natural disasters, deviance in climate and temperature, and threatened existence of flora and fauna. These changes in the natural environment have been occurring since centuries ago, but the speed rate and the magnitude of destruction is never this alarming. Inevitably, the changes in environment occur at the cost of built environment. The result ranges from destruction of buildings up to human casualties.

Traditional architecture formula does not qualify for human survival

In response to the great changes in nature, great architecture thinkers has placed the environment as one of the top priorities on their lists. All of the recently designed buildings claim to be sustainable, carbon-neutral, self-sustaining; strive to get ranked with stars and diamonds; and believe that they coexist well with the environment. However, the means of passive and active solutions are still designed within the traditional course of architecture, namely the substructuresuperstructure formula. The substructure-superstructure formula is vertically strong and capable of fulfilling the commercial demand but utilizes rigid joints with breaking points which do not allow flexibility to adapt and respond to environmental threats.

ARCHITECTURE NOW: SUBSTRUCTURE-SUPERSTRUCTURE Deep & permanent footings of Petronas Towers, Malaysia and Burj Dubai, Dubai. http://www.allaboutskyscrapers.com/images/structure2.jpg http://www.everybodygoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/burj-10.jpg

Such permanence means that the slightest degree of change in the environment will break the structure and affect the ecosystem as a whole. The dense nature of land use for buildings which stand on their own individual foundations will cause a domino effect when struck with natural or mancaused disastrous phenomena. It fails to do its job and crumbles instead of serving its purpose as shelter, causing human casualties as a result. Such cases are the Queensland flood, landslides, Christchurch earthquakes, the rise of sea level, etc.

the failure of architecture: casualties

Christchurch Earthquake Photo by Martin Hunter/Getty Images http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/christchurch-earthquake/

Ego of permanence + consumerist mentality = further destruction of nature

The latest sustainable architecture strategy has proven to solve anything but the problem. With the consumerist agenda still intact, the manufacturing of new sustainable materials and the use of newest and sustainable engineering technologies easily make ways and provide excuses for the construction of new buildings, forcing us to demolish existing buildings and clear more land. Furthermore, skyscrapers and big structures are built to be firm and static on the strongest foundations, with the most rigid joints and materials, incorporating the newest technology to withstand the test of time. The problem is that before they serve their intended lifespan and purpose, they will have been replaced with newer structures. More waste, especially construction waste, can only mean more threats to the environment.

THE EGO OF MEN: PERMANENCE Height comparisons of the tallest buildings in the world http://factoidz.com/images/user/Burj%20Khalifa%202.png

With the very state of nature which keeps on changing at much faster pace and larger scales, why do we still build as if our buildings are going to stand forever? Architecture has always been designed to solve, and not embrace, the problem. If the problem keeps on changing, it is best to solve the word changing rather than problems. I would like to propose a method to sustain the quality of architecture as a means of human survival and to sustain the life of architecture beyond its use, by rethinking the joints between architecture and foundation as well as the joints between architecture, time, use, and place.

construction of one costs destruction of another

Hong Kong isometric map on Google Earth http://26.media.tumblr.com/px84Uj64upv4ke0h648mnjwvo500.jpg 1 _ Hong Kong density http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblkwxvnuqbOv r _ 1qzfme7100.jpg o5 _

precedent

Peter Cook's Archigram portrays one of the earliest notions of 'disposability', 'indeterminacy', and 'impermanence' in architecture. He had the courage to change the whole

architectural scenery, albeit unsuccessfully. The difference between Archigram's ideas and the ideas of ephemerality in architecture lies on the issues that are to be addressed. Archigram's ideas were born in the cultural context of the 1950s, while this proposal is trying to address the contemporary and future issues of natural environment. Archigram's ideas failed to materialize due to its technological limitations during that period and the nonexistent sense of urgency on the matter.

ARCHIGRAMS PLUG-IN CITY Illustration by Peter Cook, Maximum Pressure Area, Section Smith, S., Archigram: architecture without architecture, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2005, p.15

This proposal shares the same spirit but different faith with Archigram, as the context has now shifted from culture to the environment. Although the technology for Archigram's ideas might be already available, this proposal takes the idea further and requires further advances in engineering before practicing the ideas on the ground of today and the future.

theproposal

Ephemerality in nature is solved by ephemerality in architecture

Ephemeral architecture comprises all forms of architecture which are designed to be separated from the ground; flexible, reusable, and reprogrammable; as well as built to achieve the lifespan of their use. In other words, it has a temporary domain, lifespan, and use. It celebrates changes in its form, function, and location. It also leaves no footprint from its removal or movement. The lifespan of the architecture is only as long as its intended use. It is built to not last. This idea marks the shift of focus of architectural research from creating to removing, mutating and recreating. This will accomplish an architecture which transcends time and space, as it becomes four dimensional. The fourth dimension is its function, the most important aspect of architecture.

1 Detach architecture from foundation

A A FF FF
Architecture must not be cast into the ground, but must separate the building from the footings and let the footings form a set of interlinked grid with a running system of essential services such as water, gas, and electricity. Footings are permanent, built of the strongest suit, and interconnected like a rhizoid system below and above the ground. This grid forms the universal domain of architecture which buildings can anchor themselves to with impermanent joints like a parasite. The impermanent connections to the foundations allow buildings to have temporary nature, such as being removable and reconfigurable.

2 Connect architecture to architecture

A A A A FF FF
Architecture forms are formatted to have horizontal links one with another to brace the structures and channel shared services, albeit temporarily. Architecture becomes an ecosystem on its own and grows as more connections are formed. This system groups a number of standalone units into a regional network of a neighborhood, providing temporary but strong structural connections that are capable of expanding the structures, sustaining natural forces, surviving conditions of natural disasters. A network of connected architecture units will float on the water and endure the force of earthquake.

3 Connect foundation to nature&permanence

A A A FF FF FF
cars&pedestrian

pedestrian

pedestrian

TREES

BUS& TRAIN

The ground level of architecture must be given back to nature and be freed from concrete-paving and private vehicular traffic. The horizontal network of bridges form multi-level passageway for pedestrians and vehicles to move from one building to another and largely within the city. The ground level becomes the vast area of park that supports human lives and activities. This opens up a great opportunity to regrow the environment and bring back the harmony between men and environment which has been lost.

4 Detach architecture from permanence

A AAA AAAAA

a system of light hollow structures (beams and columns) with water as the fill, filled after the whole building is configured.

From using static joints of in-situ materials such as brick and concrete, we move on to discard the permanence in structures. The quality of architecture shifts towards being determined by the capabilities of being taken apart, kept, and reconstructed in another place. The only way is to redesign all joints to be non-permanent and organic, and the elements to be modular, structural and allowing reconfiguration. It is required to rethink the materiality, from the status quo of permanent fill and joints to impermanent fill and flexible joints.

5 Connect architecture to your agenda

Finally, architecture is defined by its intended time and use. The formula encompassed in architecture will have to exclusively confirm to a particular agenda and nothing else. It believes that reconfiguration follows any agenda of the habitants, therefore an architecture's life is defined as chapters. It is acceptable for a building to have a very short lifespan as long as it can be reconfigured to form the next structure. Reconfiguring a building means to start a new life and cycle, but never to reach the final use and end in demolition.

Embracing the problem instead of resisting to the changes

This idea positions architecture in a way that it is not arrogant, and that the power of nature is superior to that of architecture. It is acknowledged that nature has the power to tear down the tallest of buildings and rip apart the most solid of walls. In responding and adapting to the environmental changes, ephemeral architecture focuses on returning the ground to the environment and rethinking the life-end phase of structures. The two permanent elements in architecture are only the environment and the foundation; and the rest is ephemeral. In comparison to sustainable architecture, this offers a better future. Although the current technology might not have the capability just yet, I believe it only takes a shift of engineering research focus to materialize this visionary proposal in the near future.