BLOCK. Alvar Aalto and the Ruin. Emma Morris Reflects on a Personal Experience with Aalto s works

Transcription

1 THE BROADSHEET OF THE AUCKLAND BRANCH OF THE NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS Alvar Aalto and the Ruin Emma Morris Reflects on a Personal Experience with Aalto s works BLOCK Formative marks: Aalto s early sketchs of his experimental house Gathered alongside a quiet road on Muuratsalo Island, Finland, we wait for a tour to start at Alvar Aalto s Experimental House ( ). My husband, our three-year-old daughter and I are standing with various other architects from America and Japan, and three elderly Finnish ladies. We re on one of our family holidays which incorporates some sort of architectural / shopping pilgrimage, having already spent a few hours in the Marimekko store in Helsinki. At precisely half past one, a lithe elfin-like creature emerges from the autumnal forest. She guides us down a meandering path to the summer house, tucked in the lee of a ridge leading down to a glassy lake. Upon entering into the courtyard we are surrounded by tall brick walls, with openings cut in them framing the trees and the sky. Our guide says she is often asked why Aalto might design such massive courtyard walls, only to cut large openings in them. Her answer is that Aalto designed as if he were constructing a ruin. The monolithic form was intended to appear from inception as if it had already undergone erosion. I found this metaphor intriguing and kept an eye out for other instances of the ruin in Aalto s work. I read later that the metaphor of the ruin has been raised by architect George Baird who argues that all Aalto s buildings after Paimo [Sanatorium] give the impression of having been aged in advance. There are three ways this metaphor is perpetuated: through Aalto s selection and assemblage of materials, his philosophy towards nature, and the design of architectural form. I ll look at these three ways and the examples found during my visit to three of Aalto s buildings. Continued on p.2...

2 Alvar Aalto and the Ruin Continued from p.1... Firstly, materials: Aalto chose building materials that weathered predictably in an aesthetically pleasing manner. He preferred copper, brick and timber, over concrete, steel and vast amounts of glass, at a time when the latter materials were increasingly used. Additionally, materials were assembled in a variety of ways to intentionally encourage plant and moss growth to gradually overtake the building. At Aalto s home and office (1936), near central Helsinki, there is rampant evidence of plant life advancing upon the building. Metal rods run up the face of the walls to encourage this growth. At the Experimental House, bricks are laid at various levels of relief to allow moss to impregnate cracks, and vines to gain a foothold. Secondly, nature: Aalto referred to the rising town, the hill towns of Tuscany, as a synthesis of urban and natural conditions. This synthesis was part of Aalto s vision of human happiness through harmony with nature. The Saynatsalo Town Hall ( ) is an urban space approached through a natural forested site. Granite stairs ascend slowly through an opening in the building mass, leading the visitor onto an external grassy courtyard. Like an Italian piazza, this courtyard is a public forum complete with a water source, a rectangular pool with fountain. One has entered the town hall complex to again be faced with nature. Another set of stairs formed of planted earth retained by timber is described by Nicholas Ray as seeming to flow like a river over a series of weirs down from the court. This stair was designed as if already reclaimed by grasses and pine trees. The ascent through the hill town continues inside, culminating in the austere council chamber. In the high ceiling are two extraordinary timber trusses, like natural forms of branches spreading. Thus, within the solidly enclosed chamber one discovers a further reminder of nature. Thirdly, form: Aalto s treatment of form tended towards fragmentation of a volume. The plan of Saynatsalo Town Hall is based on the ideal geometry of the square, which is then subjected to distortion. The volume is eroded through setbacks and cantilevers. The monolithic walls are designed as if in a state of dissolution, emphasised by large glazed openings covered in timber and metal louvres. This detail fragments the monumentality of the building mass whilst maintaining a balance between solidity of form and erosion of form. In conclusion, constructing a ruin is a design strategy which recognises the time-bound nature of architecture. It s a strategy to consider the weathering of materials, the advance of nature, and the distortion and erosion of form. In a recent lecture on the ruin, art historian Dawn Ades (2009) quoted Georg Simmel: in the vanished and destroyed parts other forces and forms, those of nature, have grown back and thus, from whatever art still lives in it and the nature already living in it again, a new whole, a characteristic unity, has arisen. This new whole is Aalto s utopian vision, he unifies technology and humanism, cultural memory and internationalism, the synthetic artifice and biological growth. Like Finland, New Zealand is a small country on the periphery, with an abundance of water, not many people, a unique culture with differences not appreciated until experienced. Aspects of Aalto s work are still recognisable in our contemporary practice. Therefore, reflecting on Aalto, what early modernist concerns of life and happiness remain important to us in this ecological age? Aalto remains a heroic figure for architects. After all these decades his buildings continue to be imbued with a deep sense of life and humanism. The Fine Print: March CHAIR S REPORT: Harry Street 1. ASIF NZIA Wood Properties CPD Seminar was successful. Speakers presentations are now ready to be uploaded to the Auckland Branch section of the web site. 2. Sculpture Park visit: Update from Ross. 3. Website: Decisions required regarding information we want to upload. 4. Auckland Council: How to best engage? Strategy developed by CvB, SJ, HS and AP following the last committee meeting. 5. Auckland Council: Producer Statements. RG to update. 6. AGM: The AGM is set for the 23 rd March with Marsh Cook proposed as the speaker. 7. Awards: We need to select a convenor for the branch awards. 8. First Auckland Plan: Mayor is to present his vision for Auckland on 23 rd March in a day long workshop. It is unclear whether this is the launch of the First Auckland Plan. 9. Committee for Auckland: MBSN workshop held at Jasmax. 10. Autumn Lecture Series: JB to update. MAORI BUSINESS STRATEGY NETWORK (C4C): Kiri Reihana Maori in the design sector - Jasmax hosted a meeting on the 15 th of February. Jasmax made presentations on their participation over the years within the Maori community and how their journey has lead to, and educated them on, some of their projects. Their journey was lead by Ivan Mercep and is being continued with Hamish Boyd, Richard Harris, their new intern Rameka Tuinukuafe, and their latest addition Brendon Himona. Harry Street spoke on behalf of NZIA National and Auckland branch about NZIA initiatives to support Maori in the profession including Nga Aho Maori designer network representation at branch level and TPK internships. He also spoke about his involvement within the Pacific Island and Maori communities on Creative Spaces projects. Nga Aho Deputy chair Carin Wilson presented where, as a society, Nga Aho is placed within the Maori community and the services it has been providing. Defined by Maori concepts of cultural landscape and the projects in which these have been expressed. Filming of the first ever 13 part documentary on Maori architecture it is due to screen on Maori TV from late March, dates will be circulated. Other initiatives will be publicised as they near fruition. Nga Aho annual Hui will be held at Te Takinga Marae Rotorua on the 2nd-4th of September this year. This is a platform for designers to showcase and discuss current projects being undertaken around New Zealand. Atamira director, Moss Paterson spoke on how Maori were expressing themselves within the contemporary dance scene and their current contemporary journey. New Zealand artist, Penny Howard spoke about discovering her Maori heritage and her continued journey of expression through a combination of paint medium and poetry. EVENTS PORTFOLIO: Andrea Bell The Events Committee had a meeting on 22 nd February Lecture Series - Vision Auckland: John Balasoglou is organizing the next lecture series. The idea is 3Ps each day a principal, politician and practitioner on the topic of their Vision for Auckland. Suggested dates are 27 th April, 4 th May and 11 th May Venue to be confirmed. International Speaker from the Melbourne Architecture Conference: It may be possible to bring one of the speakers over from the conference in Australia. Andrew Barrie is already in discussions with the organisers. This would happen sometime after 18 th April Architecture Week: It was decided to proceed with a scaled back version of architecture week that would include: international speaker(s), tour(s) of local architecture, exhibition (tbc), Speak to an Architect (tbc), Transformers. The preferred dates for Architecture Week are still Sat. 24 th September - Sun 2 nd October

3 2011. There is the possibility of obtaining some space down in the fish-market/tank-farm area and that is currently being investigated. A short list of international speakers is being targeted. NZIA COUNCIL REPORT: Tim Melville NZIA Council Meeting: The first NZIA Council meeting for the year was held on Thursday, March 3 rd in Auckland. Christchurch Earthquake: Christchurch Councillor, Richard Dalman updated Council on the situation and the most pressing needs of the Christchurch membership after which there was considerable discussion about the issues both short and long term. A draft Crisis Communications Strategy has been prepared by the National Office and was reviewed at the meeting. An update on the NZIA response to the crisis was sent to the membership on March 3 rd. Building Act Amendment Bill 3: A draft submission on the proposed Building Act Amendment Bill 3 was prepared in conjunction with the NZIA legal advisors and posted on the website for comment by the membership. Comments received were noted and the submission subsequently finalized and sent by the due date of March 4 th. The date for the select committee hearing for this Bill has yet to be advised. UIA 2011 Tokyo: Given the current crisis in Christchurch no decision has been made as to whether NZIA representatives will be attending the UIA World Congress Tokyo. The associated 10,000 World Architects Exhibition is web based and is open to architects form the around the world (see: Information on the UIA Student Competition has been sent to the Schools of Architecture. Communications: The new NZIA Communications Manager John Walsh will be available to the branches for advice and assistance on any significant communications issues at the discretion of the Chief Executive. The branch is requested to forward through to John and Beverley a list of any events, promotions or activities proposed for the coming year that John may be able to assist with. Schools Weathertightness: The working party has met to discuss the best approach to the issue and is now seeking a meeting with the Ministry of Education. NZIA Conference 2012: An outline for the 2012 NZIA Conference is being prepared for review at the next Council meeting. Talk to an Architect : The Council would be keen to get any feedback that the membership may have received from clients and the public on the NZIA Talk to an Architect campaign. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES GROUP: Megan Rule Events: 22 nd February: Christchurch earthquake, a significant environmental event and opportunity. Architecture for Humanity (AFH) who focus on responding to humanitarian crisis, have initiated fund-raising activities both overseas and in NZ and are liaising with NZIA. 22 February: NZIF/NZIA half-day seminar with TIG at Unitec covered a range of timber property topics including treatment changes, future availability, life cycle analysis and fabrication. Presentations will be made available on NZIA website. 4 March: NZSSES half-day seminar at Auckland University discussed issues in buildings related to the environment, carbon-emissions, façades and services engineering. The session was well attended and highlighted areas for potential improvement in environmental solutions. 8 March: EIG meeting to look at strategy for year ahead. October (AAW): The Future Proof environmental series is planned through Auckland University again this year. NZIA Environmental Guidelines: EIG would like to see new guidelines promoted during the upcoming March NZIA sustainable design series. Outcomes from guidelines are still to be developed. Sustainable Database: BRANZ is currently working with Victoria University on developing performance data for a range of commercial buildings. Findings will be released in due course. Environmental Research: University grants are available for interdisciplinary (across several faculties) post-graduate/industryrelated research at Auckland University. UIA Sustainable Design Strategy Questionnaire: Deadline for a response from NZIA is 11 th March. EIG is preparing response on behalf of NZIA. UIA Sustainable By Design Tokyo 2011: Architects can upload their own projects onto UIA international website. NZ outcomes from the Christchurch earthquake could make a valuable contribution to this event. Auckland City Environmental and Sustainable Forum: EIG is to look at contribution. TECHNICAL ISSUE GROUP: Nicole Tarlton Mark Mismash, a lecturer at Unitec, has joined TIG and would like to join the committee. He has been invited to attend the March meeting. TIG and EIG s seminar in conjunction with the Auckland Section of the Institute of Forestry (ASIF) on Wood Properties was very successful. It was shifted to Unitec to accommodate the 130+ attendees. Details of this seminar have been forwarded to National Office for their interest. As mentioned in the EIG report: the seminar covered a range of timber property topics including treatment changes, future availability, life cycle analysis and fabrication. Presentations will be made available on the NZIA website. GRADUATE PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION: Sandy Hayward & Sarah Mackenzie Case Study Preparation/Study Group Workshop: The first event for Auckland Branch Graduate members was held Monday 28 th February at D72. The evening was targeted at those looking to apply for registration in the coming year or the first half of Tony Orgias (Registered Architect and Convenor of Assessors from the NZRAB) began the workshop, with discussion around the nature of the case study, expectations of how requirements could and/or should be met from an assessor s point of view, and a question and answer session for attendees around 35 in all. This was followed by a presentation on case study preparation and study methods, and the opportunity to form study groups. Feedback from the evening suggest it was well received, with many welcoming the opportunity to listen to and ask questions of Tony, as well as the chance to meet other graduates looking to apply for registration. Tony has made himself available to graduates if they have further queries, and his details can be found on the NZRAB website. UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND STUDENT REPORT: Aishwarya Basrur & Jordon Saunders March saw the beginning of semester with the students taking part in an all school charette. The charette was focused around the Japanese modelmaking technique called okoshi-ezu. The charette models were then auctioned off as a fund-raiser for Architecture for Humanity s Christchurch appeal. The start of the year also saw the opening of several new facilities including a new studio space that is directly focused around largescale fabrication and two CNC mills which increase the digital fabrication facilities the School offers. The School is once again offering an intensive studio paper run by Katrin Terstegen from Los Angeles firm Johnston Marklee supported by Rowan Baird. UNITEC REPORT: Tony van Raat Classes have commenced. We had over 370 applications for the BAS this year and admitted 95 into year one. There are about 67 entering year one of the MArch. Some transfers from Christchurch are being considered while they sort themselves out. All else looking fine. Meanwhile, Wellington and SANNZ still propose a design workshop in Ohakune at mid-year in which Auckland Branch members could be involved. I ll report further as plans develop. Continued on p.5...

4 Shhh... Today s open plan living environments demand quieter kitchen appliances than ever before. Visit the quiet kitchen website to explore the possibilities. Savour the silence of well designed appliances City State Pip Cheshire Calls for Architects to Have Their Say on the Auckland Plan Discussion Document It s worth downloading The Auckland Plan Discussion Document from the Auckland Council website, even if you would rather keep drawing than lining up for the lobbying ahead when submissions on the engorged Auckland are debated. Two hundred and twentyeight pages of text and diagrams will slide effortlessly onto your desktop at the slightest click. Making some sense of those same pages will take a fair bit more time and commitment, though not so much as first appearance might suggest it is, after all, a precursor to the real meat the spatial plan. The isthmus is hardly a blank slate and this is not a founding document of state, however it does bring to mind other documents that have sought to lay a philosophical foundation for action to come. Is it drawing too long a bow to reference Plato s Republic as an antecedent, or the Federalist Papers which debated the structure of the emerging US? While we may lack the leadership of Plato s philosopher kings (Mike Lee? Len Brown???) and the intellect of Hamilton, Maddison or Jay, the discussion document and the strategic plan may be no less influential than those august documents in the years to come. We architects might be well advised to lift our heads from those foundation details flickering on the CAD screen in front of us and give some attention to the foundations of our newly emergent city state. We are a long way from Plato s Greece and pre-independence America and the discussion document recognises this by being well geared to the sensibilities, and attention spans, of our age. In place of the other documents pages of dense text we are offered lots of white space around brief paragraphs, each compressed into a tight sound bite and looking suspiciously like they contain no more than the maximum number of keystrokes contained in a tweet. To be fair, this is, after all, a provocation, a setting out of the issues at hand and a call for submissions by the end of May please note. It is hard to take issue with the sentiments expressed in the document, though I note that Owen McShane, writing in the National Business Review, castigates the document s identification of three growth areas (CBD, South Auckland and the head of the harbour) as further evidence of witless planners corrupting the market s ability to sort out settlement patterns. This is a line that McShane bangs on about at fortnightly intervals in the NBR, the only change from week to week being a minor change in focus from the role the Metropolitan Urban Limit plays in hiking up land values to the failure of planning to accommodate the clear expression of human desire expressed via the open market. Continued on p.5... PDF: Plans Done Fast Our upgraded black & white plan printer/copier offers improved compatibility with PDF files. enhanced greyscales & fills faster processing & printing also still prints PLT files scanning to PDF, TIFF & CALS proudly sponsoring the Auckland branch of the NZIA Phone (09) copy@copybook.co.nz Chamber of Commerce Building Cnr Mayoral Drive & Greys Ave Auckland City

5 The Fine Print Continued from p.3... At the RAB, discussion continues on possible revisions to CPD and also on the implications of the impending LBP system. Dinner with the Minister this evening gave useful insights both on his attitude to the Board and its future and on his relationships with the DBH. He expressed keenness on a more comprehensive (and inclusive?) licensing of all building design professionals. We ll see. UNITEC STUDENT REPORT: Stu Penno The year began for Unitec on the 7 th of March. While many orientation events are running over the following fortnight, this also coincides with SANNZ undertaking their 2011 membership drive at Unitec. On a more local level, classes began for most years on the Monday morning with studio kicking in for all years in the afternoon. Sixteen third-year BAS students entered into the Rural House Studio working with Dave Strachan and Marsh Cook, which will see the students designing, documenting and building a house over the course of the year. The rest of the 3 rd year BAS are beginning work on an urban design project for a new building in Kingsland which will also relate to an adjacent existing building. Students across the 2 nd and 3 rd year of the BAS can also opt into the specialist Maori Studio project for 2011, based in Orere Point. Final (2 nd ) year MArch students are settling into their big year. This week sees them preparing presentations for their group describing the research proposals as they currently stand, the starting gun for their race to November. COMMITTEE FOR AUCKLAND: FUTURE AUCKLAND LEADERS: Marianne Riley The year started with a beautiful blue-sky weekend at Orakei Marae hosted by Ngati Whatua in late February. The highlights included eating fantastic food, prepared by Ngati Whatua, and taking in the stunning views while participants got to know their teams. The project teams focussed on honing their project charters and developing the concepts. The four key projects are: 1. Waterfront Walk: To encourage pedestrian usage of the walk from the lower CBD to Mission Bay, by creating points of interest, focus and local historical relevance Degree vert: Constructing a vertical garden in the city centre incorporating schools alongside members of the local residential community 3. Virtual Volunteering: This project seeks to deliver a web solution to enable the not-for-profit sector in Auckland to list micro-style, virtual challenges and enlist assistance from professional volunteers 4. Car Free Sundays: To initiate the opening of Auckland streets to people rather than cars, and in so doing providing safe space for walking, cycling, dancing and other similar activities. Project teams are now hard at work making these project concepts a reality. City State Continued from p.4... The contradictory values implicit in both the discussion document and McShane s columns might make for an interesting debate about the comparative abilities of laissezfaire economics and central planning to deliver utopia were it not for the elephant in the room the agony of a shattered Christchurch seeking a way out of the chaos of a broken city. So extensive was the destruction of the city s housing, commerce and infrastructure that coordinated action was required to meet the immediate needs of safety, hygiene and survival. This was delivered in the first few days with consummate professionalism by the various organisations involved and led, as one offshore urban search and rescue worker said, to the best organised disaster he had attended. The way forward is more problematic the matters at hand being too vast and pressing for either unfettered market or consultative planning to provide effective answers. Cities are an accretion of human endeavour and in New Zealand are inevitably shaped by the restless struggle of individual property rights against the constraining dictates of a planning regime intent on delivering the well ordered society. Though invariably at odds, the two are in a symbiotic relationship, private property needing the provision of coordinated infrastructure and centralised planning requiring the unseen hand of the market to determine the distribution of goods and services. Christchurch will need both ends of this spectrum in play to rebuild itself. Just as the city will rely on the focused energies of private enterprise to generate jobs and re-establish its commercial heart, so those same enterprises will require the provision of infrastructure and, as a prelude to reconstruction, a better understanding of underground geotechnical conditions. All of this will need to happen at breakneck speed if the residents of the city s eastern suburbs are to be spared months of discomfort and deprivation and business is not to melt away to more stable locations. It is tempting to trust in those with established authority, such as central government, to provide the direction and organisation required but the statements of the government s man have sent uncomfortable messages about a centralised organisation s ability to protect and promote the city s built heritage let alone the less tangible components of city making. Perhaps CERA, the new agency charged with coordinating Christchurch s rebuilding, will be able to harness the forces of community and private enterprise to set in motion the conditions for a new Christchurch. Let us hope that it can do this without the city being stamped with the cloying dullness that comes from being the result of a single hand at a single time. There is no fear of that in our town; the new city is a shotgun orchestrated marriage of squabbling neighbours with a huge and rambunctious pre-existing built environment. It is tempting to think that the discussion paper and the spatial plan to follow are a last King Canute like attempt to tame the untameable. As Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics, Richard Sennett has said, the last hundred years of increasingly sophisticated planning and urban design tools have failed to deliver a city anywhere that has the quality of those that came into being before the advent of those disciplines. In our trade we have to think that the thoughtful arrangement of solids in light will affect the human psyche, to do otherwise calls into question why one bothers; it surely can t be for the money? The spatial plan, though sounding like the blueprint for the future arrangement of bricks and mortar on our isthmus, is in fact a statement of philosophical intentions upon which the various planning instruments will be based if you want to have any impact on the shape of our city. responding to the discussion paper is a good place to start. PC Pages/aucklandsfuturestartshere.aspx