MAXXI, Liquid Chocolate, and Ammonites in Italia

Rome is a city of the past-ruins lay throughout the center of the city,allowing the city to only grow on its fringes. Also quickly apparent was its much larger scale than Paris; large streets, huge monuments, often built at the top of tall hills...everywhere Rome reminds you of how small you are-a fish in a very large pond. Compound that with the ancient history of it all, it's often times overwhelming in its monumentality.

Among the unbelievably old ruins of ancient architecture, however, lie a few gems of modernism. For example, Zaha Hadid's MAXXI museum for contemporary art and architecture. Perhaps the main attraction at this museum is the museum itself, whose criss-crossing black paths of circulation command attention, and bring to mind the secondary, or in some cases, primary purpose of museums-to see and be seen. In very Hadid style, the museum had a very fluid style and small moments of discovery pull visitors in and out of the museum experience and act to connect the outdoor plaza with the building. Of many of the museums I've visited, this one seemed to be one of the most dedicated to providing a place for the intermingling of people, much like a modern Roman piazza.

We also stopped by a small sports center, designed by Pier Nervi, whose concrete structure was more beauty than a means to hold up the building. We did pay visits too, to the main attractions of Rome, including the Colosseum, St. Peters in the Vatican, and many churches, but what was impressive about all of them again was the scale. You could really feel the power of the civilization that built the Colosseum when standing next to its massive walls, or the strength of the catholic church under the towering vaulted ceilings of St. Peters. The Romans, we realized, are also masters of perspective-warping geometry so things appear to be something they are not, as in Borromini's San Carlino church and his built "Perspective" which is only about 9 meters long, but looks much longer due to the warped perspective. And lastly, there's color-Rome is much more tropical than I would have thought and its brightly colored buildings work to reflect the almost endless sun, a welcome change in late January.

Upon arriving in Venice, the contrast to Rome is startling. Gone are

the huge boulevards, grand monuments, huge piazzas, and in its place are small "campos," also plazas but at a much more human scale. Small streets wind every which way over canals and under buildings becoming covered walkways, and store displays come right up to eye level-enticing by-passers with their colorful displays of blown glass animals, pastries or costume masks. Many windows look like something right out of an I SPY book. Small cafes contain a welcoming yellow-ish glow and serve up some of the richest hot chocolate I have ever tasted.

Here we visited many museums of art from all ages, one of my favorite being the small Guggenheim in Venice, with just enough modern art to not become overwhelming, but rich in its offerings-everything from Kandinsky to Picasso. We also came upon our first Carlo Scarpa building-the showroom for Olivetti typewriters. Scarpa is a little bit Frank Lloyd Wright in his Japanese influences and a little bit Siza with the small tricks he plays with materials. The renovated interior of this small space was very rich in architectural details and an exquisite stone stair that seemed to just float in space.

From Venice it was just a short train ride to Verona, home of the

tale of Romeo and Juliet, where I fell in love with another of Scarpa's buildings and some prehistoric fish. Every

where in Verona, including its ancient stadium, is paved in a limestone that have embedded into it imprints of ammonites, a type of nautilus-like animal from the Jurassic period. These remainders embedded into rock used to build structures already thousands of years old really make you realize how old our world truly is.

Among our visits in Verona was a museum designed in part by Scarpa that was absolutely amazing. Constructed in the remains of an old castle, the additions made by Scarpa touch the remains very lightly, reminding me of the archive building we visited in Toledo, Spain. Scarpa is a master of material again and uses every small detail to incite surprise in his insertions-small openings in material to reveal the knobs to turn on heaters, and every type of door and stair you could imagine. Scarpa's imagination seems endless. Needless to say, the guards were certainly confused why we paid so little attention to the art as compared to the doors, heaters and stairs of the building.

Built at the base of the alps, Verona has some amazing views from its hills, however we wanted to get higher, so our last day we took a train through the alps to the small town of Bolzen or Bolzano, a German and Italian speaking town (hence the two names) resting in the middle of the mountain range. A funicular ride up the mountain allowed us to further explore, via hiking and a small train, more small towns nestled in the mountains with amazing views and frozen over ponds for impromptu ice hockey games. Sometimes its nature's architecture that amazes the most.

Comedy, Catacombs, and Chateaus

My second week in Paris led me to Parc de la Villette, home of architect Bernard Tschumi's architectural folies. However, perhaps my favorite part of the park was a bamboo park done by Alexandre Chemetoff that engulfed people in another, almost jurassic park-like environment. Also within the park was a small exhibit of films about cities, one of which, an animation by Esteban Azuela was a dynamic visualization of telephone poles that morph into birds and extend across cities. On Sunday we ran into the Bastille outdoor market-pretty much the only thing open on Sundays which was an array of every food you can find-there's multiple specialists for everything: roast chickens, oysters, and of course cheese just to name a few. Later that evening we took a quick ride on the bikes to the Architecture center in Paris where we found an extensive history of the architecture in Paris, as well as many architectural competitions in and around Paris. There was so much to see, well just have to make it back later.

For a quick day trip, I went to Fontainebleau, a small town just outside of

Paris known for its Chateau or castle inhabited by many French kings as well as Napoleon. The interior of the castle was absolutely extravagant, much like a mini Versailles, and the gardens around it vast and sprawling, but not as manicured as Versailles' gardens for example. The town around the castle was very quaint, nestled among

national forests, in which one of my favorite things I found was a green-walled natural foods store...

That wednesday we took another walk along the abandoned train line, La Petite Ceinture, this time on a portion that was sunk below street level. Funnily enough, on the same day was some sort of celebration of the train line and so an actual train was running on it, mind you, very slowly, so slowly that we just walked in front of it and it never caught up until the end. Our walk took us through a pretty long, dark tunnel, past abandoned station stops, as well as pieces of the train line that someone had converted to a home. Towards the end, the train caught up to us and many french photographers, who came to photograph the celebratory train, urged us to get off the tracks as the train was coming (!!)...and they were right...it was, at a whopping two miles an hour.

That same day, took a visit to the Hotel de Ville of Paris for a Sempe exhibit, a french cartoonist who did a lot of work for The New Yorker, that was an absolute joy. His social commentary has such a fun, light sense of humor, very reminiscent of Tati, the french filmmaker, who it turns out he was good friends with. That night, the three of us met up with some American expats to go to a comedy show, that was all in french, but due to its very exaggerated performance, was completely understandable in English.

For class the next day we took a walk through the Parisian passages or indoor streets, some of which were absolutely gorgeous and all filled with shops for some of the most random and specific things, like one just for stamps and another just for designer canes. Some of my favorites though were the ethnic passages, like the middle eastern and indian ones, conveniently located right near our apartment...i will be going back.

On Friday we met some french people that studied at IIT for beer at perhaps the only french brewery called the frog, whose beer was nothing special, but decent. The next day two of the Parisians joined us for a walk through the French Catacombs, about 130 steps below ground where they deposited a lot of the bones of Parisians from the overflowing cemeteries in the 17th century. It was fairly creepy

as it was just rows and rows of bones, placed very particularly creating a design out of skulls that someone had to design and lay out.

The last few days has been great for catching up with family and family friends. First, treated to a wonderful dinner at Raoul's place on Montmartre overlooking the Eiffel Tower and today spending the day with Carol and Mika, paying a second visit to the Sempe exhibit and dinner on the town. Tomorrow begins our traipse through Italy...au revoir Paris, a bientot!

Bonjour Paris

My first week in Paris has been exhausting, but satisfyingly so. Walking non-stop every day to see as much as possible can really take it out of you...Upon arrival, Gregory, a gregarious French man told us all about these amazing macarons made by Pierre Hermes and told us of the many places to visit in Paris. Upon arrival back at the apartment that day we found 3 of the very macarons with a note, "Parce qu'en parler c'est bien, mais en manger c'est mieux," or for non French speakers, "Because to speak of them is good, but to eat them is better." Well put.

Exploring Paris the first few days, I was intrigued by the Passages or indoor/outdoor markets that run through buildings as well as the little courtyards just behind every door. It's like the city is whispering in your ear, playing little games, teasing you with its secrets. There are so many little nooks and crannies, little streets that go seemingly nowhere, but take you off the main street only to spit you right back out...it's impossible to see it all. I love too the lack of a grid system here, so that every time you turn a corner, you don't know what your view will be, sometimes it's a huge monument, sometimes a small courtyard, and sometimes the back of a building. One thing is for sure, Paris is a city of surprises.

Luckily, being a student in Paris means you get access to any museum or attraction for free. So far we've visited Pompidou, where there was a huge collection of Modern Art and architecture, Cite which is a center for architecture through the ages, climbed to the top of the Arc de Triomphe and visited countless churches including Notre Dame and

Sacre Coeur. (Seen right is a man playing soccer at Sacre Coeur, or Soccer Coeur...) Pompidou was probably my favorite as a kind of experiment for social interaction and interaction with the city. It felt like much more than a museum: the slightly sloped plaza and fountain nearby were a constant hub of activity of people meeting, performing, etc. And the organization of circulation on the outside of the

building, weaving through the "innards of the building" (mechanical systems, plumbing, etc.) Was a fascinating way of moving in space.

Despite the controversy surrounding it when it was first built, it's easy

to see why this building has become an icon and beloved space of the

city, although I am sure there are those that would still disagree.

Our first assignment for class had us read Perec's attempt at exhausting a space and sent us out into the city to do the same. We picked spaces both traditional and nontraditional, indoor and outdoor, to sit and just observe and record exactly what we see. As an exercise, it helps us be more aware of our environment and got us to visit places we might not have. Among the places I went I observed a clown performing for kids in the Mayor's office of the 10th arrondisement (seen left), trains running every 3 minutes in the Metro, a man who worked in construction who came up and talked to us about architecture and the Pythagorean theorem, and lots and lots of scooters, bikes, buses, zipping every which way.

Today in class we took a walk along the Promenade Plantee, an elevated train line converted into park, the prequel to the High Line. This elevated train line intersects with another abandoned line, known as La Petite Ceinture, literally the little railway belt, only this one has not been converted into anything and is the site for our studio project this semester. We are challenged to come up with an urban plan for said train line which is 32 km long and then to take a piece of the urban plan and test it with an architectural intervention. Our first visit to the site was fascinating and not completely legal, but amazingly, in Paris, there aren't many people to shoo you away, or who care to. The abandoned rail line is beautiful in how it weaves through the city, cutting through some of people most personal spaces, sometimes lifting many feet off the ground, sometimes sinking 50 feet below. We only walked a portion of it but no doubt we will be seeing more of it as the studio progresses

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The Warming Hut

Final Boards and photos of the model which turned out quite nicely with a soft, pillow-y finished interior.

Pour 2

The second pour was also a success-creating an inverse mold of my first pour. I basically just flipped the first assembly and poured into the frame that had the fabric attached to it and then cut the fabric away. Using less petroleum worked fine and it left a surface more related to the fabric texture than the texture created by the jelly as on the last pour. I also used a different material-Quickcrete rather than Cement all, which didn't settle as well, giving the surface a more porous quality. The idea that you can make one casting and then just cast off of previous castings is really efficient and the cloth can be reused several times in the process, significantly reducing the amount of waste materials. Below are some photos of the process: the first of the two frames assembled, the next of the concrete poured inside the frames, and the last of the two pours and fabric formwork.

The First Pour

My first fabric formwork pour was a success! Using three assembled pieces, I was able to create a concrete that molded to the fabric between support points. The assembly had three pieces-a base on which the support points were glued, a lower frame over which the fabric was stretched tightly and a third frame into which I poured the concrete. To make sure the concrete wouldn't adhere to the fabric I applied several layers of spray shellac as well as petroleum jelly to the fabric. On the next pour I might not apply so much petroleum as it did affect the surface texture even if it made it very easy to pull the concrete away from the fabric. My next step is to make an inverse mold of this mold but stretching the fabric over the already poured concrete and pouring new concrete over that. Below are some pictures of the process. The first is the three frames unassmebled, the second the assembled frames with the concrete poured, and the last the finished product.

Forming Flexibly

My original interest in concrete formwork led me to find the curious idea of fabric formwork, which is being developed as an efficient and “green” alternative to traditional formwork options. Developed primarily by an entity known as CAST (The Center for Architectural Structures and Technology) at the University of Manitoba, fabric, primarily geotextiles commonly used in road construction, is being used as a formwork that gives architectural beams and columns a more efficient shape, cutting down on the amount of material used than when creating more traditional-shaped pieces. The results are beams that look almost exactly like a moment diagram of the concrete-deeper at locations with more stress or strain, slimmer at areas under little strain. Not only is the shape the most efficient use of the material, but the shape itself is elegant and appears natural due to its basis in mathematics and physics. To the human eye, it just makes sense.

Fabric formwork also gives the finished concrete a level of strength not given by other formwork due to the filtering that occurs through the fabric. The porosity of the fabric allows air bubbles and extra mix water to filter through the formwork membrane. The formwork itself is also very lightweight, inexpensive, and, due to its flexibility, reusable for multiple castings.

Aside from the efficiencies that can be produced in structural concrete members, fabric concrete also provides flexibility in design for architects, allowing them to create a variety of forms otherwise impossible with more orthogonal formwork types. The shapes created by fabric are tensile geometries, something that would be hard to obtain in concrete, a naturally compressive material.

One of the main architects exploring the possibilities of fabric formwork is Kenzo Unno, who uses fabric formwork to obtain both an efficient use of material and certain aesthetic desires in his work. In his research, Kenzo Unno was able to create a “zero waste” wall assembly into which the concrete is poured and the only piece that is then removed is the fabric formwork, which can then be reused for another casting or as an earth stabilizer. A diagram of the wall assembly can be seen at the right. The linear wood pieces on the exterior become battens onto which the exterior cladding is applied. These wall assembly pieces can easily be constructed off-site, and then dropped into place on the construction site.

Aesthetically, Kenzo Unno has done a lot of cast-in-place walls in fabric formwork, giving walls a soft, pillow-like surface, and again reducing the amount of material wasted during construction. His cast-in-place walls have come in two forms, one known as the frame method, the other as the quilt-point method. The frame method uses a series of vertical restraints in between which the fabric is stretched and the concrete poured. The quilt-point method uses a series of ties in the walls between which the fabric is stretched and the concrete poured. The concrete is vibrated externally by poking the wet concrete contained by the fabric with a stick and, as in the case of the quilt-point method, the fabric being stretched by the concrete forms into its natural tension geometries, allowing it to be entirely self-sufficient structurally.

Fabric formwork has also been used to create precast concrete panels in a variety of forms. The method for producing these forms is simple-first a rectangular frame of the dimensions of the final panel is laid down inside of which intermediate supports are placed (these supports will retain the fabric at these points and the fabric will in turn bow between them). Next, a pre-tensioned fabric membrane is placed over this frame, on top of which an upper frame that will contain the wet concrete is placed. This frame will determine the edge thickness of the panel and inside of it any reinforcement can be placed. When wet concrete is poured into this assembly, it causes the fabric to deflect downward creating three-dimensional tension curves between the designated support points of the base frame. The castings created from this method can then in turn be used to create inverse castings by pouring a new casting along its surface on top of a layer of fabric.

The implications that this research has on the future of concrete as a building material are huge. Not only is it efficient in how it uses materials in construction and creates a strong product through the filtering process, but it provides an aesthetic to concrete previously unavailable. I like that the fabric formwork uses the properties of wet concrete to create its form. Instead of trying to contain the wet concrete, it works with what it naturally wants to do unlike many other types of formwork, allowing what is seen as a “difficult” property of the material to become its driving force. The next step will be to test some of these processes myself-specifically the precast panel construction method-on a smaller scale.

What aspects of this research will translate into the warming hut is yet to be seen. I definitely like the idea that using this formwork will allow for less waste as our hut is located at the top of a very steep mountain side and so to have a lot of waste due to construction would be very inefficient indeed. I also think the efficiently shaped beams that give a very natural form to the architecture is something I think I’d like to apply to the warming hut. Let’s see what the castings help me discover.

References:

"CAST :: Fabric Formwork." University of Manitoba. Web. 23 Jan. 2011. http://www.umanitboa.ca/cast_building/research/fabric_formwork/index.html

Miller, Anne. "Concrete Dreams." Canadian Architect (2008): 71-73. Print.

West, Mark. Kenzo Unno Fabric Formed Walls. PDF.

West, Mark. Prestressed Fabric Formworks For Precast Concrete Panels. Centre for Architectural Structures and Technology. PDF.

West, Mark. "True to Form." Canadian Architect: 54-56. Print.