.LSBU OS3

the third lecture series at LSBU curated by Tobias Klein and Kenny Kinugasa-Tsui

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Always Thursday
Lecture Theatre L17, London Road Building, 120-125 London Road SE1 6IN
For enquiries, please email info@lsbu-openseries.com
www.lsbu-openseries.com

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The third OS lecture in the School of Architecture at London South Bank University series seeks to bring together a diversity of individuals, discourses and practices that explore the limits and boundaries of both their practice and their practices as a designer whilst proposing new paradigms for the future.

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The individuals contributing to this series have all contributed to expand and stretch traditional definitions of their subject. The term ‘Maverick’ is not to be understood merely as an individual who does not conform but as a powerful agent for change and transformation.

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The form of the lectures will invite a presentation and debate to discuss:
• The content and form of practice(s)’
• Context and politics of practice (central and/or peripheral)
• Discipline bondage and the Interdisciplinary
• New Paradigms for the future

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The School of Architecture has its roots in Brixton School of Building and has strong tradition of independent minded students, staff and alumni such as Ron Heron who are not afraid to question the status quo. The spirit of the maverick is alive and kicking south of the river. In his preface to the first OS1 lecture series and publication Sir Peter Cook wrote, ‘As we say on Guy Fawkes night, light the torch paper and stand clear!’. OS3 will continue to provike debate and discussion.

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Thursday 17th of February

Quay 2C Architects – Ken Taylor

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Thursday 24th of February

AMID / CERO9

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Thursday 03rd of March

Tomorrowsthoughtstoday / Liam Young

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Thursday 10th of March

serie architects / Christopher CM Lee

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Thursday 17th of March

Post-Works

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Thursday 24th of March

Pentagram

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Thursday 31st of March

Carlos Villanueva Brandt     (TBC)

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Thursday 05th of May

Heatherwick Studio

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.Sinfonia Orchestra Varsovia

Author: Tobias Klein and Dietmar Koering with Anneli Giencke and Paul Giencke

with Alexey Marfin

in collaboration with Buro Happold

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Along with becoming the new home to the Sinfonia Orchestra Varsovia, Warsaw’s1800 seat concert hall is also meant to become a cultural hot spot for the city’s right bank. Situated in the area of Praga Poludnie, the new concert hall is located in a plot of land amongst the historic neo-renaissance buildings of the former Veterinary Institute.

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The form of the building is driven by the pre-existing restrictions and parameters of the site. Its square block aspects derive from the dimensions of the green square in the centre of the site. However, whilst the Northern and Eastern facades appear to be the side of a square , the Western and Southern ones contrast in being dynamic and fluid, accommodating more exclusive public programs. Another predominant aspect of the design is the impressive cantilever. This element extends over part of the green park and subtly interacts with the western historic building. Not only can the cantilever be seen from the street as a gentle protrusion of the concert hall into the city, but it also acts as a viewing platform for the spectators of the concert hall.

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The building in the day is a stereo-metric volume, underlining the new presence in the historic context – at night though the facade reveals a playful light circulation that allows a gentle wandering through the foyer. As calm and unspectacular the building appears at day, the building volume turns into a lighting parade at night, showing its metropolitan character. Within the Sinfonia, we spend particular attention to the integration between the concert hall and the foyers, creating an interwoven multilayered construct that reveals itself to the visitor along a procession like ascend into the vineyard-like concert hall. The entrance hall itself is a glass volume intersecting sharply the curved main volume of the sinfonia and creating a large interstitial public space over two floors. The Sinfonia becomes a meeting place, a public foyer and an invitation to national and international visitors, facilitating concerts as well as a public program during the year.

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The concert hall itself reveals the aesthetic fluid curvilinear essence of the interplay of formal sharp and clear lines as well as the warm and gentle soft flow. The building is in constant dynamic reaction to its environment, playing with the hard symmetry of the urban set-up and the fluid characteristics of its orientation, circulation and programmatic interfacing between the meandering foyer and the hidden exuberant concert hall.

As part of the London Design Festival 2010, works of Tobias Klein  are exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The show frames the works of the AVATAR (ADVANCED VIRTUAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL ARCHITECTURE RESEARCH) of which Tobias is a part. he work synthetic syncretism is framed by the works of Neil Spille, Marjan Colletti and Dan Slavinsky.

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.molecular city

Author: Tobias Klein and Roberto Bottazzi with Tasos Varoudis

and  ADS1 from the Royal College of Art

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Molecular City is an installation conceived with Royal College of Art students to question the nature of the XXI-st century city.

By taking advantage of Augmented Reality technology, Molecular City allows the public to create their collective hybrid city by superimposing virtual architectures onto the existing city of Porto via computer projection. The physical space of Porto becomes a canvas constantly connected to the endless possibilities provided by virtual space.

The installation consists of two tables and a screen [fig.1-2]. Visitors can create a half real/half fictional landscape of Porto by positioning virtual architecture on Porto’s map and visualising them on the screen. A library of virtual architectures to play with will be provided by either students’ models or free downlodable models from the Internet.

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As part of the Department of Architecture at the Royal College of Art in London. Architecture Design Studio 1 (ADS1) – taught by Roberto Bot- tazzi and Tobias Klein – has been working on an innovative project that has been constructed in the occasion of the Graduation Show between June 21 and July 4 2009.

The narrative provided by the reference chosen – an real animal – guided the design and fabrication process. The initial structure is quartered in four pieces following the ac- tual anatomy of elephants. The slicing patterns for laser-cutting vary in density to both retain the semantic qualities of an actual elephant chosen as well as function as display cabinets for the students’ final models.

The White Elephant contributed to this debate by challenging the relation between 3D design and 2D manufacturing. The elephant is a body, a fully three- dimensional structure whose presence in the space is materialised by slotting together laser- cutting flat plywood pieces.

Animals, narratives, CAD/CAM technologies co-exist in this project to suggest that the future of digital de- sign will be more heterogeneous in its references and extroverted through an open and direct dialogue with cultural and artistic practices.

As part of the graduation show of the studio taught by R.Bottazzi & T.Klein at the Royal College of Art, The White Elephant explored the potentials of CAD/CAM technologies within the field of narrative design. Through the projects developed by the students during the year, the studio focused on the critique of much of the current digital production in architecture and its self-referential interest in parametric, surface- driven design.

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Tobias Klein will be participating in Prototypes & Experiments V: Architectural Elements, at the Aram gallery from 1 July – 28 August, 2010. He will be exhibiting work consisting of a series of prototypes from Synthetic Syncretism, Inverted Syncretism and Soft Immortality. Prototypes & Experiments V, is the most recent manifestation of an ongoing exhibition exploring prototypical and experimental design. He will be exhibiting along side other established architectural and design practises. To see more information about Prototypes & Experiments V and the Aram gallery click here.

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.Kaohsiung Ferry Terminal

Author: Tobias Klein with Anneli Giencke and Denis Vlieghe

with Eleanor Dodman and Graham K.Smith

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With the merging of Kaohsiung into a metropolis, the design of the terminal creates a first landmark for the new Taiwan. At the core, the concept of the proposal is to create a gate, a meeting ground between the international and national tourism and the city of Kaohsiung. Through the inclusion of an open, public marketplace the entry creates a city within the building. The ferry terminal is becoming a destination for the inhabitants of Kaohsiung, and most importantly, an iconic first taste of the city for those arriving by boat.

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The dynamic form and organization of the projects ensures that the activities of the terminal can be carried out efficiently, while at the same time integrating public facilities, leisure programs and commercial spaces. The project offers for both local and international visitors spectacular vistas with the roof garden and a vast open ground space for public activity. The densely organized functional programs is choreographed around urban areas that are part of the building itself; the roof garden is a park, the arrival hall a market square, the roof-scape is a concert venue and a cultural hub.

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On arrival visitors are offered an extensive selection of retail with the marketplace as well as the possibility to walk through the roof-scape and experience Kaohsiung’s skyline and waterfront. The perforated ceiling will enhance visitors experience as light projects through the, as well as making the large building seem light and airy. The project possesses a complexity in the arrangement of programs whilst maintaining fluid open spaces for pedestrian circulation. The ferry terminal would become a dynamic hub for commerce and tourism for the city as well as an iconic face of Taiwan’s economic success.

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.meandering jetty

Author: Tobias Klein, Dietmar Koering with Paul Giencke

with Eleanor Dodman and Graham K. Smith

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The scheme’s main concept is to integrate a soft and malleable approach towards viewpoints, journeys and scenic beauty. As well as an intelligent and environmentally responsible approach towards the natural complexity of the surroundings. The ‘meandering jetty’ is composed out of a gentle pathway system that imitates the multiple root system of a rhizome. This allows one to slowly stroll through the natural reserve on one of the many pathways or to go directly from the entry point to the beach. The pathway is framed by two buildings that host the main functions and give shelter as well as educate about the history and natural resources. Both buildings are sustainably built out of timber shingles that can be individually replaced. Furthermore in the forecast of a storm flood the ‘beach building’ can be entirely dismantled and stored within the upper pavilion. At the core of this project we believe in the integration of architecture within nature and accept nature’s geological, biological and dynamic forces. The proposal works intensively with the natural contours and envisages structures that excitingly choreographs a theatrical descent while barely evading or disrupting the ground and the complexity of the flora and fauna.

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.Gasholder No. 8 – Urban Canopy

Author: Tobias Klein and Dietmar Koering with Paul Giencke and Lucy Woods

with Eleanor Dodman and Graham K.Smith

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Gasholder No. 8 is situated within one of the most significant regeneration projects in London, and thus, it presents a unique opportunity to reinvent the notion of public space. An augmented ground plane of hard landscaping creates a series of flexible spaces offering a variety of possible uses throughout the day: The Two Form Entry Primary School’s playground can extend into the gasholder space during the day, and at night the space can be commercially let as an exclusive venue. Profiled edges create seating, climbing walls and skate ramps. Water pools and planting subdivide the space allowing it to be used for various activities simultaneously. A second elevated landscape or ‘roofscape’ allows for year-round use of the external space, and creates internal space overlooking Regents Canal. The public space extends onto this ‘roofscape’. Conceived as an ever-changing idyll in a dense urban environment, hard landscaping is softened by native planting. Larger native trees puncture the surface from below, buffering noise from the nearby high speed railway. A canopy level walkway, wending its way through the trees re-frames the view across Regents Canal and the gasholder structure, and allows the visitors to interact with the usually unreachable canopy.

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This canopy is a living, breathing, green skin with educational routes for children. It shows the changes of the seasons, regulates the temperature below and creates an interesting quality of light with its ever-changing vegetation. At night, the canopy will be transformed with the use of carefully positioned lighting (LEDs within the walkway, and uplighters on the ground) creating a sublime atmosphere- perfect for outdoor functions.
Neither imposing nor lacking in presence, this is a proposal highly in tune to its surroundings; it celebrates the heritage of the gasholder and its structure whilst creating a cohesive new open public space integrating leisure and nature within the city.

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.Strawberry fields forever

Author: Tobias Klein and Dietmar Koering with Kleopatra Chelmi

with Eleanor Dodman and Graham K.Smith

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Cities can be very isolating; people live in high-density tower blocks but lead individual lives and do not commune with their neighbours. ‘Growing your own’ is something that can bring people together, however allotments are rapidly disappearing in cities, as land is reallocated for housing. ‘Gathering’ is initiated through social interaction and agricultural cultivation in a hybrid typology – a zero-carbon network of greenhouses and fields within high-density living; a space cultivated by the residents for the residents. Fruit and vegetable markets further extend the gathering space. Here produce is exchanged between residents; this establishes a community feel through shared activity.

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The vertical allotments are linked together, which means that not every allotment needs all layers of production. Overall goal is to introduce into the urban fabric a zero carbon network which produces food and energy; a new elastic network which will form the spine of future society and connects different cultures with there basic needs in an nowadays anonymous urban environment. This green fabric forms a new gathering space for the people who live in this district. The social aspect is farming, which tries to adapt historic idea of a village has now become an urban village. the aspects of social order with the equilibrium of nature to the idea that human being itself fills the gap, a gap which should taken care of and forms a gathering space. this feedback loop of production and social care also educates young people. The new gathering spaces transform the brutalist high-rise into a projected situation of urban farming, a symbiosis between nature and social order.