A study on the Guthrie Theater

A study on the Guthrie Theater

Guthrie Theater Jean Nouvel Technical Research Study Conducted by Katie Loechen, Ke Zhoa, and Sara Marquardt Arch 5565 Fall 2014 Rendering of National Art Museum of China (2014) Rendering and model of Signal Tower (2008) Institute of the Arab World (1987) What I like is the poétique of the situation. I am a hedonist, and I want to give pleasure to other people. BIOGRAPHY Nouvel was born in France in 1948 after the war, and grew up in a mileu of structuralists. he inherited a love of learning and exploration from his parents, both teachers. At an early age he wanted to be an artist, but his parents insisted he take a more practical path. There an interest in architecture was born, originally as a compromise. After a year of preparation, Nouvel failed the entry exam for the architecture in Bordeaux. A year later, he retook the test for the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and came in first. His time at the École des Beaux- Arts proved to be a poor fit for Nouvel s philosophy in architeccture. He openly distains the school for glorifying beautiful drawing of details over research and critique. His thesis prompt was to submit a design for a children s library; Nouvel turned in a written analysis of drawings that children throughout France had drawn when asked what a library looks like. His thesis was rejected. When he was asked to study skycraperes of the International Style, he instead researched mobile towers that had been used as attack castles in the Middle Ages. This was, unsurprisingly, also rejected. He supplemented his academic studies by working for an archtiectural firm called Architecture Principe. This firm was formed by modernist architect, Claude Parent and the urban theorist, Paul Virilio. After a year, Parent and Virilio had already designated him as project manager in charge of a large apartment complex. Nouvel admits, I knew nothing, and the construction manager understood I knew nothing. Nevertheless, he learned quickly. Soon, Parent encouraged Nouvel to go out on his own. Studies by Architecture Principe (1968) Nouvel had a series of partnerships in the early part of his career. After completing his course at age 25, he soon started working in partnership with François Seigneur. Between 1972 and 1984, he had 3 different partnerships with Lezen Gilbert, Jean-François Guyot, and Pierre Soria. In 1985, he formed the Jean Nouvel et Associés in 1988 and the JNec. His office current office, Ateliers Jean Nouvel, was formed in 1994 with Michel Pélissié. Then, a year after founding Ateliers, Nouvel founded Jean Nouvel Design as a compliment to the architectural practice already in place at Atlier. Jean Nouvel Design is a multidisciplinary team that works within furniture design, interior design, scenography, and visual communications. Since it was created, JND has developed over 100 design objects and Atliers had designed over 200 projects. The main office is located in Paris, and is one of the largest architectural firms in France. INFLUENCE POSITION GLOBALLY Nouvel has been a key participant in intellectual debates in France since the early part of his career. In 1976, Nouvel and Marin Robain cofounded the Mars 1976, a movement aimed at promoting the inhabitants participation to the conception of their living environment. Additionally, he founded the French labor union for architects in 1977, called Syndicat de l Architecture. Nouvel s first big break into the international architecture community did not come until 1987. In that year, the Institute of the Arab World (IMA) was completed. The building received a lot of press for its technological innovations in aperature-like panels responding to light; it won the Aga Khan Award for architectural excellence in 1989. Since 2000, Nouvel has been fortunate to win a string of awards. These include the Golden Lion from the Venice Biennale (2000), a Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects (2001), and the Praemium Imperiale (2001), and, most notably, the Pritzker Prize in 2008. TECHNOLOGY Nouvel is continually looking to develop buildings that are relevant for contemporary society, not nostaligic of their more historic surroundings. This relevance is often achieved through a high degree of high-end technology that is integrated to his buildings. Each building is specfically generated, so it is difficult to trace his research development in terms of technology. As Nouvel stated to Arch Daily, My interest has always been in an architecture which reflects the modernity of our epoch as opposed to the rethinking of historical references. My work deals with what is happening now our techniques and materials, what we are capable of doing today. (3) As a whole, Atlier is articulate about bringing art, history, and cultural references into partnership with new building technologies. Digital modeling and BIM softwares are currently utilzied in their practice. Nouvel is attracted to conceptualizing an idea first as a pure form then perverting it through reflection, transparency, directed light, concealed structural systems, and mirage. His classic building, IMA, is an excellent example to look at in how Nouvel incorporates technology. In IMA, he utilizes an advanced responsive metallic brise soleil on the south façade. The systems uses several hundred light sensitive diaphrams that control the amount of light that enters the building. As the diaphram changes chape, geometric patter is formed that show off light and voice. This lattice system is both beautiful and functional in being able to mitigate soloar gain.

WHAT HAVE THEY BUILT 1987 Nemausus 1 (Housing, 114 apartments), Nîmes, France 1987 Arab World Institute, Paris, France 1994 Fondation Cartier pour l Art Contemporain Paris, France 1995 Euralille, (Retail / Office / Housing), Lille, France 2000 Culture and Convention Center Lucerne, Switzerland 2000 Palais de Justice (Nantes), Nantes, France 2001 Golden Angel (Zlatý Anděl), Prague, Czech Republic 2002 Monolith of Expo.02, Murten, Switzerland 2003 Torre Agbar (Office), Barcelona, Spain 2004 Museum Two, Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea 2005 Reina Sofía Museum expansion, Madrid, Spain 2006 Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France 2006 Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, MN, USA 2009 Copenhagen Concert Hall, Copenhagen, Denmark 2010 100 Eleventh Avenue, Manhattan, NY, USA. 2010 Serpentine Gallery temporary pavilion, London 2010 One New Change, London 2011 Tower 25 in Nicosia 2012 Doha 9 skyscraper, Doha, Qatar 2012 City Hall, Montpellier DESIGN PROCESS He prefers to dream up his concepts away from the office: either in bed in the mornings or, even better, in the South of France during the summer, when he heads to St. Paul de Vence, a village near Nice, to swim, to incubate his ideas in tranquility and to meet periodically with colleagues or clients who fly down. He is a really hard worker, but he has a way to organize people with his life, says his friend Patrick Seguin, who owns a leading Paris gallery of mid-20th-century furniture. Probably half his business is done around the table. If he works 14 hours a day, it is seven hours at the table. EVERY JEAN NOUVEL BUILDING tells a story. Typically, architects begin the design process with a sketch pad or scale models, but Nouvel starts with an idea he can express in words. Everyone is a product of his epoch, he told me recently. For me, I was born in France after the war; I was in the milieu of Structuralist thinkers. If I don t have a good analysis of something, I am lost. Once Nouvel examines his given conditions and decides that the best architectural solution is, say, a skyscraper without visible base and summit, or a mechanized geometric facade that casts filigreed shadows, he can get going. But to this cerebral process he appends a counterweight: the sensuous love of the material components of a building. What I like is the poétique of the situation,

If ever a building deserved to be called sexy-ugly, it s this one. Christopher Hawthorne, LA Times PROJECT TEAM Client: Guthrie Theater Architect: Atlier Jean Nouvel Local Architect: Architectural Alliance Principal: Tom DeAngelo, FAIA Project Manager: Bob Zakaras, AIA Advisor to Jean Nouvel: Hubert Tonka Project team: Vincent LaPlante Nathalie Sasso Eric Stephanie Anna Ugolini Damien Faraut Michel Calzada Athina Faraut Edwin Herkens Julie Fernandez Yann Salmon Jacques Le Marquet Michel Cova General Contractor: McGough Structural Engineer: Ericksen & Roed Design Development and Construction: Bertram Beissel Fluid: Michaud & Cooley Subcontractors: Olympic Wall Systems Acounstical consultants: Talaske Group and Kahle Theater Planners: Fisher Dachs Associateso Bald Eagle Erectors Lighting: L Observatoire International Field Support: Peri Manufacturers: Centria: Metal Panels CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULE 2003 May: Minnesota legislature approved $25 million in state bonding bill 2003 June: Breaking ground 2003 Oct. Drilling of caissons begins 2003. Peri formwork installed. UNIPORTAL tables were used on the 1st floor with a 32 ft shoring height. They could be assembled on the ground with the posts added underneath. The table was suspended from the crane, thereby saving significant labor cost. 2004 Sept. Stainless steel cladding begins 2004 Sept. Construction of cantilever begins. West River Parkway is closed between Sept and Thanksgiving to allow the cranes 2005 Feb. Construction of the skyway connection begins 2006 June. Guthrie Opens ARCHITECTURAL POSITION OF THE FIRM: Nouvel insists that he is not a designer, but rather, an architect who makes design. Every project is envisioned as a complete design progarm, be it at the scale of a chair or at the scale of a building. Nouvel states, For every challenge posed, I seek the elementary object whose finished form corresponds to an idea. It s always a fitting and unique answer that bears witness, culturally and technically, to our times and to our civilization. (2) Additionally, Nouvel sees everything as theatrical. He worked for a period of time as a scenographer, and incorporates this thinking into his practice. As he stated in an interview publieshed in El Croquis, Scenography is the relationship between objects and matter that we want to display to somebody who is watching (CITE). That viewing is based on time and movement, and is perceived in sequence. To build a building is to predict how someone will experience this linkage of spaces. THEORETICAL POSITION OF THE GUTHRIE The Guthrie Theater is positioned as a machine for the senses. It creates a stage for the city to perform on. At the heart of the city, the Guthrie is a machine for capturing and radiating the enveloping vistas. It condenses the landscape that unfolds around it. -Jean Nouvel The cantilever bridge is conceptualized as a both a visual and physical instrument for experimentation with the landscape. Nouvel states that, the walk from the lobby to the balcony opening onto the Saint Anthony falls is an event as much as a promenade (CITE) The Pritzker jury said the Guthrie, both merges and contrasts with its surroundings... It is responsive to the city and the nearby Mississippi River, and yet, it is also an expression of theatricality and the magical world of performance. (NY Times) With the Guthrie, Full-storey glazing of tinted glass is connected by spiderconnections and stabilized by glass fins. This glass facade is used to create the illusion of the bridge leading to the sky. Within the design it is clear that Nouvell prioritized the experience of the user. The way a person moves through space and what they see is carefully calculated. Nouvel prioritizes circulation as well as the structure to support these spaces and how they function. Conversely, through analysis of mechanical systems, it is clear that integrating mechanical systems within an early stage of design was not a priority for Nouvel. Many of the mechanical systems (HVAC, plumbing/ bathrooms, and egress stairs) are placed into the leftover spaces of the building. They are not stacked nor centralized. To Nouvel s credit, designing a more efficient mechanical system would have most likely impacted the effect of the promenade. Prioritizing the visitor s experience, Nouvel sacrificed greater efficiency in the circulation. There are a few areas where mechanical is integrated, which are shown in diagrams and images later in the report. One example is how the plumbing in the center of the building follows a similar logic as the egress stairs. While many of the mechanical systems are intentionally inefficient, there are specific design moves made that intentionally support his program

in a productive manor. One example is placing the production link on the same floor as the stages allows for seamless transportation of set materials. Additionally, the double layer concrete wall between the stage and the production behind stage serves double duty of both eliminating sound transfer as well as bracing the structure of the steel frame. Other design decisions that reveal his theoretical position include. TIPPING POINTS The construction crew was on a tight schedule to complete the building. Olympic had over 80 trades people on the job site during peak construction. To achieve this, there was a large amount of planning that occurred in conjunction with McGough. (4)

First floor structural columns. Within the sketch model, each floor is represented by a single sheet of material. In most places 3 thick, this is composed of a steel frame with a corrugated metal decking attached on top, and a layer of concrete finish toppping. The vertical walls you see projecting through the floors are composed of a double layer of load bearing concrete walls. These act as a bracing for the structure as well as sound isolation. The second vertical component running through the model are the elevator cores, a secondary bracing element. The second floor of the thrust theater is raised from the ground by a series of structural columns. Vertical double layer concrete bracing wall.

STRUCTURAL The structure of the Guthrie is in four separate systems, one for each of the theaters and one for the endless bridge. Having the structures be separate allow for each theater to be acoustically isolated and distinct theater types. The systems are loosy tied together for lateral bracing in addition to the concrete members. Steel beams and columns make up grid of the system as represented by lines in the digital model. The planes represent both the concrete topping as well as the vertical load bearing concrete. Though it is a massive structural feat to construct the Guthrie, Nouvel primarily hides the structure within the envelope. The structure of the cantilever is only revealed in a handful of distinct moments throughout the building. One of these moments is directly underneath the bridge, where the steel is exposed. Lit from below, it can be viewed from the first floor lobby in a glorified state. The view is provocative of the bridge s strength. In experience, the endless bridge reverses expectation. On the ground level, the viewer is shocked by the cantilevered mass. However, within the bridge, constructed views and hidden structure work in tandem to produce an illusion of groundedness. The massive truss structure to support the cantilever is hidden, and the visitor is dislocated from the whole of the building as a whole. The feeling of being projected towards the river is lost.

CIRCULATION The over arching path through the building is experienced in an sequence, referring back to the contemporary urban complexity. There are a series of fragmented, repeated experiences in the building. Throughout the path, the visitor is placed within the context of history, seeing herself reflected amongst the imagery of theater days past, then once again displaced through the distortion and fragmentation of the imagery. Full immersion of color produces a hyper-reality, an intensified experience that becomes embedded in the visitor s experiential memory. Color is utilized distinctly throughout the path. The visitor passes through thresholds that are marked by the change of color as well as led through the space by it. Different theaters are marked by red, blue, and yellow, both recalling previous colors, as well as marking each place as distinct. It should be noted that the circulation path is very much not Sharon s Rule of Capital Letters, which states that all circulation should follow the path of a capital letter. Having the path wind and twist in a maze-like manner allows for Nouvel to achieve a level of urban fragmentation within the building.

CODE MECHANICAL PLUMBING Fire escapes are mapped within the diagram to the left. Within the HVAC system, multiple systems are used to allow for isolation and control of individual spaces. The different colors in the diagram each represent a unique system. Hydroponics are used to heat and cool the air. Two vertical stacks run through the building. All plumbing connects into these stacks.

ENVELOPE Detail of Cerntria Formawall Dimension Series (left) and detail of metal panel fitting into a larger wall structure (right) The company, CENTRIA was chosen as the manufacturer for the exterior wall panels. CENTRIA has its own coil coating facility that can create shortrun, custom colors, and was able to produce the necessary colored and textured panels. The panels are modular and fit into one another, creating a subtle texture but monochrommatic appearance from a distance. SPECIFICATIONS: Cerntria Formawall Dimension Series 2 & 3 Gauge: 20/26 Quantity: 123,600 sf Substrate: Galvanized G90 Texture: Smooth Smooth Striated Paint Color: Metalic Blue Spider connections and glass fins are utilized for the curtain wall on the endless bridge. All structural glass in the building was produced by ISG Structural Glass.

LIGHTING SYSTEMS Artifical lights lead you through the space. Both track lighting and single lights in the ceiling are utilized. Standard Theater Lighting System Key architectural features are illuminated at night. Artificial lighting is mapped in the diagram above Utilitarian light sources are used in the backstage and service parts of the building. Electrical Dimmer Room in the Guthrie Lighting System Backstage Thrust Theater Lighting System Dowling Studio Lighting

MOMENT OF INTEGRATION: STRUCTURE AND CIRCULATION Box Truss connects into larger structure and holds the endless bridge path Ramp for endless bridge shifts height within box truss structure Elevators located in narrow space between two structural systems Throughout the building, structure is embedded and hidden from view and yet allows for distinct circulation moments to happen. The endless bridge is cantilevered to push the circulation path towards the river and away from the building. Addtionally, the ramp on the endless bridge has a steep incline up and subtle decent in experience, though structurally it is a box truss that is not changing its incline. The two escalators travel an astonishing four stories with a full void above, a void possible because of the supporting adjacent structures and the narrow gap between them.

MOMENT OF INTEGRATION STRUCTURE AND PLUMBING Within the building there are few systems that are integrated together. One example where is does follow a similar logic is in the core of the building whre plumbing and vertical circulation work in tandem in a specific locatiom. The orange is circulation related and the blue is plumbing related. At the scale of the building on the far left you see the bathrooms notated in blue stacked on top of one another and the stair to the left both running vertically. In the middle diagram, at the scale of a room, you can see in plan where the air pressurization shaft of the stairs is adjacent to the plumbing shaft between the bathrooms. In the diagram farthest to the right, at the detail level, you see once again the stair air pressurization shaft and the plumbing shaft following a simmilar logic.

MOMENT OF INTEGRATION AIR OUTTAKE & ENVELOPE Detail of Exterior Vents Integrated with Metal Panels The HVAC Air Outtake is integrated nearly seamlessly with the envelope of the building. Metal vents are interspursed with the metal panels in such a way that they do not immediately draw attention to themselves. The vents are located throughout building, in connection with the separate HVAC systems shown earlier in this report.