möbiusMöbius House, Ben van Berkel + Caroline Bos (a continuum)

lilian tuohy main

In 1993, UN Studio embarked on a six-year project to design and build “a house that would be acknowledged as a reference for the renovation of the architectural language”. !e scheme to convey this new language was found in the Möbius band, a diagram studied by the astrologist and mathematician, August Ferdinand Möbius throughout the 19th Century. By twisting and joining corners of a singular rectangular strip of paper, the Möbius loop produces a one-sided surface in a continuous curve, without a le", right, beginning or end.Programme is integrated seamlessly within the house, both in terms of circulation and structure. !e organisation of the building is based the intertwining trajectory of the loop, which relates to the 24-hour living and working cycle of the occupants, where individual working spaces and bedrooms run in parallel but communal spaces are situated at the crossing points of the paths. !e perception of movement is reinforced by the changing position of materials, which continually overlap and switch places. As the loop turns inside out, the exterior concrete shell becomes interior furniture; the interior partition walls turn into glass façade...!e contortions and twists go beyond the mathematical diagram, although continue to make reference to the in#niteness of the Möbius. !ese concepts are further demonstrated through the appropriations seen in transformations one and two. !e initial transformation examines the paradox of the Möbius under new extremes in terms of form and $ow, the second begins to examine the possibilities for hybridisation between internal and external space.

foreword BIG CATCH IMAGE

5.

!is set of diagrams should be read as a series. !ey explain the decomposition of the existing house to the underlying patterns of $ow and circulation (also explored through the second diagram)

( e x i s t i n g!ow andc i r c u l a t i o n )

+ 1 relates to the continuous 24-hour living and working cycle of the buildings occupants. !e diagram highlights the lack of direct focus on any one area, the various living, working and resting spaces are seamlessly integrated.

+ 2 + 3 visualise the breakdown of the house’s program and inhabitation in order to move towards a greater understanding of the underlying concepts of theMöbius.

+ 4 increasingly refers to the double-locked torus and intertwining trajectory on which the building is based

+ 5 forms the basis for the following transformations. It promotes $oors, walls and ceilings becoming one continuous element

( h y b r i d i s a t i o n )

1

2

3

4

5

9.

ev.o.lu.tion n. 1. !e process by which di%erent kinds of living organisms

are thought to have developed and diversi#ed from earlier forms during the history of the earth.

2. "e gradual development of something, esp. from a simple to a more complex form * - the forms of written languages undergo constant evolution

3. A pattern of movements or maneuvers* - silk ribbons waving in fanciful evolution

evolution

.10.11.

5

4

3

Fi#h TwistCurves becoming increasingly angular and de#ned. Reaching

limit in number of twists before Möbius concept is lost.

Fourth Twistmost interesting form so far.

Tighter twists indicative of the creation of rooms and formal

space

"ird TwistUnique form beginning to

take shape. Curves become individual rather then

symmetrical

2

1

Second Twistretains the ‘loose’ quality

of the #rst twist. Element of symmetry begin to arrise.

First Twistbasis for the design of the original Möbius pavilion

In this initial transformation, the in#niteness of the Möbius is demonstrated. !e continuity and form become increasingly complex as extra twists are added and the form evolves. In each instance, the spatial twist can be fully experienced- surfaces are treated as walls, ceilings and $oors- all simultaneously. !e unanimous relationship between the inside and the outside is also in a continual state of change.

13.

MIDLE SPRED

r e s p o n s i v e!e resulting form promotes a ‘responsive-architecture’ de#ned by a desire to act, and to (inter)act .To activate, to generate, to express, to move, to exchange... on both a macro and human scale.Promoting responsive interactions, encouraging movements rather than positions.

23.

inside outside transition of both

+ =

In this structure, previously meaningless lines become surfaces, which are further transformed into a volume. !is one $uid gesture de#nes how a visitor may move through the space. !e development from space to place is related to the idea of changing from an external physical space, of any character, to an internal, perhaps contemplative space with meaning.

25.

“I have always believed that interest is not to be found in the !rst image or the !rst e"ect you create, that this is actually not the most interesting way for a building of any kind to communicate. It is more o#en what we call the ‘a#er image’, or the double readings you create; a certain layered e"ect or fascination that needs to be present in the design which functions as an attractor. You can create a form of crossing point, whereby the pavilion becomes an ideogram, where the visual elements of the pavilion are combined with the theoretical aspects of the design. BEN VAN BERKEL

Image sources:p7: Bomsite, !e artist’s voice since 1981: http://bombsite.com/issues/80/articles/2483p11: Charles Jencks, Evolutionary Tree of Architecture, 2000.p12: http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome

Faculty of Architecture, Design and PlanningUniversity of Sydney

BDES2012 Architectural Communications 2Semester 01.2011

Unit Coordinator: Dr Dagmar ReinhardtStudio Tutors: Dagmar Reinhardt, Eduardo Barata, Carolina Torres, Melissa Pearson, Timmy Lum.

Lab Tutors: Steven Janssen, Jonathon Donnelly, Jonathan Newton, Dinah Zhang.Pavilion: A Project and Methodology

!roughout history, architecture has been developed by progressive concepts – at times pursued as concepts of architecture leading to unique private residences, at times as abstract ideas displayed to a public realm through the Pavilion, in the context both gallery venues and world exhibition settings. !e Pavilion traditionally refers to freestanding structures built as objects of pleasure, small (garden) outbuildings, particularly popular in the 18th century. !ese light temporary or semi permanent structure o"en resembled small classical temples and follies. Sometimes speci#cally erected for special occasions such as fetes, garden banquets, and balls, these structures show unique appearances. !e architectural form of the pavilion is itself dynamic, and characterized by speculation, fantasy and mobility. !e Pavilion is regarded as a public building type in which relationships between art and architecture, perception and exposition, critique and spectacle, concept and experiment can be deployed.

BDES2012 Architectural Communications 2 reviews the pavilion both as subject and as communication of architecture, BDES2012 Architectural Communications 2 uses the Pavilion as an opportunity for the open expression of architecture at a scale that is at once playful and provocative, speculative and rhetorical. It pursued a path of conceptual development and process through the analysis, documentation and continued transformation of selected architectural pavilions and iconic houses in relation to the courses design and media technique curriculum. We will analyse a series of pavilions and re-interpret these through the techniques and media you are being taught in, ranging from a variety of analogue techniques towards digital design.

BDES2012 Architectural Communications 2 investigated di%erent explorations of pavilions and experimental houses and derived a series of transformations by subjecting these original pavilions to abstract core themes of architectural concern, such as desire, phenomenal experience (tactility, hapticity, acoustics), memory, porosity, transparency, $ux, contamination, /decompositions, nodes, bifurcations, striation, box.to.blob, lo"ing, modules, counterparts/balance, swarm systems, hybrids, network organizations, and narrative lines. !ese concepts have been adapted by you to produce an architectural experiment of your own, both in an analogue and in a digital realm.

!e exhibition launched on May 24th, and continued until May 31st 2011, opens passages of the project to the public: speculations, fantasies and modi#cations communicated and presented in the public realm of the Hearth, Ground Level Wilkinson Building, Faculty of Architecture, University of Sydney.

Copyright with project author and Faculty of ArchitectureProduced March-May 2011, Sydney, Australia

credits

35.

“On the whole I believe that pavilion can be seen not just as models for experimenting with materials or construction techniques, but also as models for thinking; as intellectual constructs. !rough the experience of working with the diagram or even design models, as apart from working in a linear process of moving from sketch to design, the pavilion can be seen as a kind of extension of an instrument for design; the pavilion can function as a possible apartments for the process of design. “ BEN VAN BERKEL