Liepaja In May 2014 an architectural competition was announced to develop a derelict bathhouse in Liepaja, Latvia. My experience with this project was quite different from all of the other models I made for the On The Surface exhibition. With the other projects I was working with material that had already been developed for past competition. The model for Liepaja however was developed in collaboration with Metis in order to be photographed for competition boards alongside drawings, computer renders and textual description. The photographs included a perspectival section illustrating the proposed interior, the screen wall and the gardens and an arrayed collection of individual parts. In order to be exhibited the project had to be developed into be a coherent whole. The most fundamental aspect of the project was the dialogue between the architecture of the existing bathhouse and the proposed architecture that would face it. A sectional model was key to show how the connection between the two architectures would be articulated via a series of parallel gardens. For the model, these strips needed to be more than a superficial etching, they needed to be clearly embodied in the material composition of the model. The proposed intervention in the original bathhouse was a transformation of the rooms that had contained baths, into spaces that could be entirely filled with water: bath-rooms. To show this in a clear and powerful way only the intervention would be modelled, the existing structures would be represented via etching. The new building, proposed to complement the existing bathhouse included private apartments with mezzanine levels, rooftop pools and a carefully defined interface of public and private areas. Using 3D-printing allowed for sharply detailed structure in a uniform material that foregrounded the spatial arrangement. The feature of the proposed architecture that required most resolution was the external screen wall. This perforated wall formed a boundary that would filter both light and lines of sight between interior and exterior. This element proved very challenging to create. The form of the boundary was complex, similar to a ribbon of varying thicknesses, wrapping in and out around the building forms. There were moments when the boundary ribbon would join back on itself. The form had integrated staircases and extruded sections that specifically related to the forms that it masked. Its character demanded a coherent form – a single entity that was distinct from the rest of the model. The perforations in the modelled screen had to be carefully proportioned, abstracted sufficiently from the literal dimensions that were represented so that they would read appropriately at a scale of 1:200. At 1:1 the perforated wall would be relatively straightforward to construct and smooth. Bricks would be placed according to a
rationale of solidity and openness and changes in geometry would use the physical dimensions of the bricks and a gradual alteration of how they would be placed. At a scale of 1:1, faceted corners would read as curves. However, the techniques associated with hand (or machine) laid bricks are not directly scalable to a 1:200 model. Three approaches were developed to make the scaled-down peforated wall; each required several stages of abstraction and adaption. The least successful approach was FDM printing. The stated resolution of the ‘Dimension Elite’ is 0.178mm; this refers to the height of each layer that is extruded. On paper, or more aptly on screen, this approach should have worked. However the test pieces proved unconvincing. Even with an abstraction or exaggeration of geometries the material did not look promising. There was very little tactile appeal and the appearance too closely resembled the printed apartment interiors it was supposed to contrast with. The colour, texture and grain of laser-cut wood was much more appealing. Initial tests using this second approach of cutting a perforated pattern onto a flat section proved persuasive. There was a requirement to adapt the geometry to account for the material ‘lost’ through being burnt away, but such adaptations could be made relatively quickly using CAD. Design options were tested on sample materials, the resulting perforations were reviewed and the design adapted as required. Cutting patterns on the curved sections was much more difficult and required careful manipulation and fastening of the work piece. If the whole piece were kept intact certain sections would be impossible to laser cut. Prior to laser- cutting any perforations, the wooden form was created through CNC routing. First tested on a piece of cheap readily available softwood, pine, the exploration developed an understanding of the physical form and what level of detail could be expected. The problem with using this type of wood is that the open nature of the grain (characteristic of the tree’s fast growth) is prone to splitting and cracking, particularly problematic when thin sections are cut across the grain of the wood. However, without doing this, it was impossible to achieve the geometry of the screen wall that was desired. Before routing a block of hardwood, adjustments were made using the knowledge gained from working on the block of pine.
above: A digital model maps out the material requirements of the physical model Materials are selected and brought together to test adjacencies
all images: richard collins
above, left: Testing printing options using fused deposition modelling Laser cutting to the limits of what is possible with the material Challenges to the perforation of the curved façade right: Orientation of the model in relation to the grain of the wood was always important The thickness of the model had to respond to the material being used Material testing informed the formal possibilities of what could be modelled
On Site review 35 : the material culture of architecture
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