Flow in Architecture

Traditionally, architecture has been preoccupied with the resolution of form.Architecture is always in a condition of flow, channeling people, rainwater, breezes, birdsong, energy *Architects have to think about flow the flow of people, energy, landscape, waste etc into and out of buildings

*Architecture in the Space of Flows - Andrew Ballantyne & Christopher Smith

The experience of lived space as a temporal event as opposed to a static boundary

Temporal flow: in continuous flux, becoming, growing, evolving

Flow of movement, circulation, networks, technology

Architecture is dynamic and performative, fluid.

How do effects of flow find expression in architecture?

The relation between form, flow and function can flow have a form or is it arbitrary?

Yokohama Port Terminal Foreign Office ArchitectsPassenger Cruise Terminal mixed with civic facilities for the use of citizens.

Site has a pivotal role along the waterfront as a continous, open public space.

The precinct of the pier is structured as a fluid, uninterrupted and multi-directional space

'Our proposal for the project start by declaring the site as an open public space and proposes to have the roof of the building as an open plaza' - FOA

'The project is then generated from a circulation diagram that aspires to eliminate the linear structure characteristic of piers, and the directionality of the circulation.' - FOA

Fallingwater Frank Lloyd Wright

Siting of the residence over the river rather than below

Integration with the surrounding landscape

Cantilevers

Sound of the river

Architectural monumentality, but one that is generated via the landscape

Interior/Exterior flow - place that is 'in-between'

Sendai Mediatheque Toyo Ito

Ito employs the notion of flow as a metaphor

His relation to flow can be associated with an aesthetic to lightness and fluidity of the architecture

'Plate, Tube, and Skin'

Floating platesHollow tubesTranslucent skin

The hollow structural tubes house all the building systems including HVAC, electric, network cables, stairs, and elevators and act as light-wells.

Ito embeds each program into a network of interconnected spaces that reject the idea of defined divided spaces

Technology brings a multi-dimensionality to spaces

Flow in the programmed spaces through flexibility