EXQUISITE (RE) INJECTION

A SOLID-VOID PROPOSITION

1 // WHY EXISTING BUILDINGS?

BUILT FORM AS A SITE FOR INTERVENTION

2 // WHAT IS SOLID AND WHAT IS VOID?

SURVIVAL OF THE SOLID IS BASED ON ACCEPTINGTHE VOIDS

3 // DOES THE VOID BECOME SOLID?

Sumer Matharu
OCCUPATION AND INHABITATION EVDA 682
Fall 2016
Instructor: Josh Taron
4 // WHAT NEXT? University of Calgary
A CONTINUOUS URBAN PROPOSITION Faculty of Environmental Design
FINAL BOARD LAYOUT
OVERVIEW //
ISSUES RAISED BY THE PROJECT

ZONING IN 2D VS. 3D

DESIGN PROCESS AND MATERIALITY

PHASE 4 PROGRAM
1 // WHY EXISTING BUILDINGS
existing programs existing FAR

max. FAR
injecting existing buildings
PRECEDENTS // PARASYTE

Parasyte // Anime

Lebbeus Woods // parasytic injection use of vistas to create voids void creation study
2 // SOLID AND VOID

existing context

buildings as solid and new space as void

0 // existing building mass 1 // location for workshop and classrooms 2 // void for workshop and classrooms

3 // location for studios 4 // void for studios 5 // location for artists residences

6 // void for residences

 Existing
Offices

Maerial Shop /
Park Studio Spaces Storage
3000 sq.m. 500 sq.m

Admin Office Workshop

Public entrance Residential
50 sq.m. 2500 sq.m.

Classrooms Tool Room

Market 250 sq.m.
1150 sq.m.

Shared
Internal Food Washrooms with
Circulation / Vendors commercial
Stairs space

Mech and Elec

General Storage
rooms

Loading
Dock

intended program
floor plates for recycling

cast shells for reinsertion // 1

prefab plan for downtown cast shells for reinsertion // 2

reinsertion // an irreversible process
structural system // a vermicular process
the exquisite building
3 // DOES THE VOID BECOME SOLID?

new ways of inhabiting and circulating

 west elevation // nts

circulation east elevation // nts

 the exquisite city

ground level looking into the classroom space looking out through the studio insert
PHASE 3 //
STRUCTURAL CONCEPT

section picked for study

initial study
1st structural layer // receiving the inserts 2nd structural layer // the spine 3rd structural layer // the neck and new columns
sectional model in 3D section view // nts
PHASE 2 //
PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

site analysis // focus on 10th ave. SW site analysis // section

 Existing
Offices

Maerial Shop /
Park Studio Spaces Storage
3000 sq.m. 500 sq.m

Admin Office Workshop

Public entrance Residential
50 sq.m. 2500 sq.m.

Classrooms Tool Room

Market 250 sq.m.
1150 sq.m.

site analysis // focus on site 23

Shared
Internal Food Washrooms with
Circulation / Vendors commercial
Stairs space

Mech and Elec

General Storage
rooms

Loading
Dock

site analysis // max. FAR scenario

collaging excercise in Photoshop

3D collaging in Maya
floor plan 1

section

floor plan 2
perspective

model images
PHASE 1 // PRECEDENTS // PARASYTE
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

precedent // anime // parasyte

precedent // lebbeus woods // free berlin zone precedent // lebbeus woods // parasytic injection
void finding from vistas

void creation
iteration 1
iteration 2
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
What I learnt
This project for me was a continuation or building upon of what I would like to claim
as my architectural sensibility. In straying away from conventional architectural ideas
of building new structures or tearing down old buildings, this project takes a critical
stance on the current state of architectural sustainability from an ever questioning
perspective. By using a critique of how wasteful current architectural practices are, I
found myself learning about a new perspective towards the currently built environment.
I believe I found myself as a designer and a person a bit more through this project. I
discovered that my architectural thinking lays in the realm of conceptual foundations
of the discipline which I would like to take forward into actual projects whether they
be small scale and sculptural, or whether they be building scale and inhabitable. In
terms of a quantative take on what I learnt, this project greatly enhanced my skills in
thinking diagramatically in 2D and 3D, in software, design thinking, representational
techniques, form fidning, and also in physical model building. I learnt a great deal
about the solid-void architectural theory that my project was based on.
What I thought I was doing
At the beginning of the term, I was most definitely still trying to find a departure point
for the direction of the project. After having found this direction, it felt as though
I was trying to build upon the teachings of past radical thinkers such as Lebbeus
Woods while also extracting influence from other aspects of my own life experiences.
I thought I was dicovering new ways of form finding for new building typologies using
the descriptive geometry techniques that we were introduced to at the beginning of
the term. I intended on using existing buildings, tearing them open and rearranging
them to meet societal and economic needs with a bias towards free thinking and an
attempt to eliminate the current capitalistic cognitive map that we are trapped in.
While keeping this intention in mind, I was trying to find a way to channel and contain
all the constraints and techniques of the Studio in general. This led to an interesting
set of boundaries that the project had to operate within.
What I actually ended up doing
Most of my intentions with this project stuck with me throughout the different phases.
With the introduction of a prefabrication aspect in the project, I took the tearing apart
of existing buildings in a new direction of recycling rather that repurposing as is. In
terms of the general theme of the project, I unintentionally operated with a soild-void
philosophy, which afterwards became the theme of the project based on Negarestanis
reading provided by Prof. Taron. I had the opportunity to discover new ways of looking
at materials and critique the current forms within architecture based on the materials
made available to us because of mass manufacturing.
What I would like to continue investigating
I would like to continue to question conventional practices and materials within
architecture and design. I believe that architecture is nearing its generational limit and
will soon be trasncending to a new set of techniques and technologies with the advent
of computational thinking and manufacturing methods. In considering the fact that
we will have a large system of built infrastructure already in place, it is an opportunity
to take advantage of in considering this system also as ground. Using architecture to
induce a change within social and economic systems is another issue I would like to
continue investigating. I think architecture can be used to create a scenario similar
to that proposed by Constants New Babylon or even Buckminster Fullers Manual
for Spaceship Earth. It is only because of a system of greed and pursuit of monetary
gain that we continue to live the way we do in the current capitalistic phase of planet
Earth. By using architecture, this system can be reversed, or changed but this has to
be widespread. The third topic I would like to continue to investigate is how we plan
our cities, and therefore zoning and its drawbacks along with the possibilities therein.
What I would like to improve upon
Going forward, I would like to improve and develop my skills when it comes to
inhabitation of unconventional structures such as those I was dealing with in my
project. I would also like to improve my diagramming skills further in terms of speed
of production.
Overall, I was deeply connected to this project and I am glad to have gone through
this experience.