MERCAT DE SANTA CATERINA

Site: Mercat de Santa Caterina

Assignment: THE CONTEXTUAL DETAIL

"When the materialities of the details forming an architectural space become evident, the haptic realm is opened up. Sensory experience is intensified and the psychological dimensions are engaged." Steven Holl

"Using a conceptual analogy, it is possible to define architecture as a system in which there is a "total architecture," the plot, and a detailed architecture, the tale. The joint, that is, the detail, is the place of the meeting of the mental construing and the actual construction." Marco Frascari
"Beauty is the concinnity of all the details in the unity to which they belong." Leon Battista Alberti

exercise

In the interior space of the Mercat de Santa Caterina you will explore details, the joining together of two materials through a series of thumbnail sketches. Please consider how the joint tells the tale of the construing and conceptualization of the architecture.

FES AND MEKNES MOROCCO

Site: Fes and Meknes, Morocco

Assignment: THEMES IN ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE

You will be asked to sketch at a range of sites and locations in Fez and the Middle Atlas. Please examine the following ideas drawing connections and conclusion between the various sites and subjects. In addition you should investigate the rituals and practices of Islamic culture and the Muslim religion and how they are manifested in the architecture and built environment.

Inside/Outside and the mediation between
Sacred/Profane
Centers/Edges
Direction/Orientation
Veil/ Reveal

Please consider the following architectural elements and how they might support or articulate the above concepts.

Threshold
Gate
Screen
Porch
Fabric
Skin
Contrast
Layers
Light
Shadow


Your investigation should be lucid and focused. Please establish a consistent framework and visual and written language in which to analyze and communicate your findings.

Readings:
Hakim, Besim S. Arabic Islamic Cities. Kegan Paul International Limited: London, England. 1988 (Chapter 2)
Kazimee, Bashir and Rahmani, Ayad. Place, Meaning and Form in the architecture and Urban Structure of
Eastern Islamic Cities. Edwin Mellen Press: Lewiston. (Chapters 1-3)

CCCB MACBA COMPLEX

Site: MACBA, CCCB AND BCSF COMPLEX

Assignment: CONNECTIONS, ALIGNMENTS, CENTERS, EDGES
You will visit the cultural complex of buildings and spaces at and surrounding Pl. Angeles. Please locate the following structures:

THE FACULTY of COMMUNICATIONS SCIENCES (1996)
Blanguerna Communications Sciences Faculty
Architect: Estudi Viaplana/Piñón Arqs. Ricardo Mercadé Ass.

THE MACBA (1995)
Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona
Architect: Richard Meier, Thomas Phifer

THE CCCB (1993)
Center de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona
Architect: Estudi Viaplana/Piñón Arqs. Ricardo Mercadé Ass.

In your skectbook draw an urban plan of this area removing the above buildings. Accuracy and precision is imperative. Analyse the plan making notations in your sketchbook of the connections, alignments, centers and edges that existed before the intervention of MACBA, CCCB and BCFS structures.

Your drawing may want to include context that extends as far as the Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya, Lluis Sert Hospital, or anything else you find relevant.

Once you have completed your urban plan with notations, you will re-introduce the 3 buildings rendered different graphically from the existing context (shaded, dotted, hatched). For each building, please diagram centers, edges, connections and alignments that it either introduces or reinforces in the existing context.

After you have fully analyzed the site, you will propose a transformation by moving one element or structure in the complex. You will communicate your design move through a small plan diagram and a perspective of the space as proposed. Please be clear as to how your move establishes new centers, edges, connections and alignments.

TEATRE NACIONAL DE CATALUNYA, and BIBLIOTECA NACIONAL DE CATALUNYA

Site: TEATRE NACIONAL DE CATALUNYA, and BIBLIOTECA NACIONAL DE CATALUNYA

Assignment: SPATIAL VOIDS, SPATIAL OBJECTS

You will perform a comparative analysis of the spatial conditions of the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya and the Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya. Your analysis will explore the additive and subtractive process of forming space.

Using axonometric, create a diagrammatical abstraction of the following systems:

Day One [Teatre Nacional de Catalunya]: spatial objects (addative process)
Day Two {Biblioteca de Catalunya}: spatial voids (subtravctive process)

Your comparative analysis of the architecture should link back to your understanding of the inverse relationship between the urban pavillion and courtyard forms.

FOSSAR de la PEDRERA

Site: FOSSAR DE LA PEDRERA Beth Gali and Marius Quintana

The Fossar of the stone quarry (Beth Galí & Màrius Quintana, 1983-86) was originally the quarry (pedrera in Catalan) used as a cemetery or dumping ground during the Civil War for individuals executed in the Castell de Montjuïc during 1939 and 1940.

In the 1980, during one of the urban regeneration initiatives of the city, the abandoned quarry was inaugurated as a monument to memorialize those who fell fighting for the freedom of Catalonia.

Assignment: PLACE AND SPACE

Place theory looks at the idea of the role of historic, cultural, social and political values in design. Under this theory, the architecture or urban design is underpinned by memory, emotion and phenomena.

Sketch a plan and section showing the relationship of the quarry space to the street and terrain. Indicate in your drawings the zones of sacred space, profane space and the transition space between.

Please analyses how the architect layers in historic, cultural and political values in the design and preservation of the quarry?

PARC DEL LABERINT d'HORTA AND PARC GUELL

Site: PARC DEL LABERINT d'HORTA and PARC GUELL

Assignment: FOREGROUND, BACKGROUND, MIDDLE GROUND

You will examine the city from the top down.

From the Parc del Laberint d'Horta and ParcGuell there are spectacular views over the parc itself, the western hills and the city. Frame views with these different horizons in mind. Try to locate some of the areas from previous assignments and lectures.

In your framed view you should introduce depth through the consideration of foreground, background, and middleground
The view depicted should be separated into 3 spatial layers.

In your second sketch, at the same or different site, reverse your 3 three spatial layers so that background moves to foreground and foreground receddes to the background.

fore·ground (fôr ground , f r -)
n.
1. The part of a scene or picture that is nearest to and in front of the viewer.

back·ground (b k ground )
n.
1. The ground or scenery located behind something.
2. The part of a pictorial representation that appears to be in the distance and that provides relief for the principal objects in the foreground.
b. The general scene or surface against which designs, patterns, or figures are represented or viewed

middle ground
n.
1. A view midway between extremes

THE METEROLOGY CENTER

Site: THE METEOROLOGY CENTER, Paseo Maritim, Alvaro Siza

Assignment: NARRATIVE AND COMPOSITION

James Joyce, the 20th century writer is celebrated for is ability to present a story rich in complexity. In his novel Dubliner, Joyce constructs his characters through the presentation of multiple perspectives. These fragmented views collectivelly assemble a narrative that allows for a broad understanding of the social and political contexts of the city

In sketching architecture, we are presented with the same challenge of how to represent a subject in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Each architectural building or site has the ability to be viewed through a infinite number of lenses. In addition, each scholar brings to the subject elements of perception, approach and point-of-view.

Point-of-view and composition become critical in establishing the narative of your subject. We can take clues from our literary example offered by Joyce in that the attempt to capture the entire building in one sketch is often less successful that the narrative that is constructed by the collection of multiple drawings.

You will explore composition and narrative through a series of sketching explorations at the Meteorology Center.

com·po·si·tion
1.
a. The combining of distinct parts or elements to form a whole.
b. The manner in which such parts are combined or related.
2. Arrangement of artistic parts so as to form a unified whole.

nar·ra·tive
1. A narrated account; a story.
2. The art, technique, or process of narrating.
adj. 1. Consisting of or characterized by the telling of a story.