A Iab 081741

Fall 2009
Published by
The American Institute of Architects
The Architecture and Design Journal of the National Associates Committee
FORWARD 209
ORNAMENT
FORWARD MISSION
To be the architectural journal of young, aspiring architects and designers of
the built environment specifically targeting design issues.
Fall 2009 - Ornament. Volume 2, 2009. Published biannually by the AIA.
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NATIONAL ASSOCIATES COMMITTEE (NAC) OFFICERS
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Katie Harms, AIA - Advocacy Director
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Jack Baumann, AIA - Knowledge Director
NAC COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
Christina A. Noble, AIA, LEED AP - Forward Director
Chris Grossnicklaus, Assoc. AIA - AssociateNews Editor-in-Chief
Joanna Beres, Assoc. AIA - AssociateNews News Editor
Jeanne S. Mam-Luft, Assoc. AIA - Past Forward Director (2008)
Copyright and Reprinting: (C) 2009 AIA. All Rights Reserved.
SUBMISSIONS
Forward welcomes the submission of essays, projects and responses to articles. Submitted materials are subject to editorial review. All Forward issues
are themed, so articles and projects are selected relative to the issues specific subject.
Please contact the Forward Director, Christina Noble, at
Christina.Noble@gmail.com if you are interested in contributing.
SPRING FORWARD 110
Architecture & The Body
NATIONAL ASSOCIATES COMMITTEE MISSION

The National Associates Committee is dedicated to representing and
advocating for Associates, both mainstream and alternative, in the national,
regional, state, and local components of the AIA.
FORWARD 209
FORWARD DIRECTOR
Christina A. Noble, AIA, LEED AP
VEILING
by Matthias Kohler
MOCKUPS
by Nick Gelpi
14
OUT OF THE LAB AND INTO THE JUNGLE

by Tom Wiscombe
21
THE SEMANTIC METAL SURFACE

by L. William Zahner
29
INSIDE IRAN
photography by Mark Edward Harris
37
SULLIVANS BANKS
by Stacey Zwettler Keller
43
REVOLUTIONS OF CHOICE
by Frank Barkow
48
COMPUTATIONAL DETAIL
by Stephen Lynch
53
EVERYDAY INSPIRATION
by Eduardo Cadaval
59
DEEP SURFACE
by Brock DeSmit and David Cheung
63
ORNAMENT
by Christina A. Noble
FORWARD 209
ORNAMENT
TOPICS
ORNAMENT
by Christina A. Noble
Architects are increasingly faced with shrinking influence, often only

designing the building skin or an individual tenant improvement, but not
necessarily both and not at the same time. As a result, modernist desires
for a direct connection between interior space and the exterior envelope
can no longer be controlled by a single architect and the concept
of a unified architectural project no longer has primary relevance to
contemporary construction processes. This has led many architects to
focus on architecture as a manipulation of surfaces as a relevant means
for design and construction today.
What is interesting to me is how a reduction of scope studying a single
surface has revealed new possibilities for design exploration. The
exterior building skin need no longer be limited to a line separating
inside from outside. Instead a surface can be analyzed as thickened,
layered planes with depth and complexity that expands and contracts as
necessary to include one or multiple (and perhaps even contradictory)
systems. For example, Belzberg Architects Conga Room, as discussed
in the article Deep Surface, could be perceived upon first inspection
as simply a decorative element enlivening the dance floor. However,
this dynamic shape encases complexity beneath its flowered form it
incorporates layers for lighting, fire safety and acoustics. Each layer
has its specific job to perform and is allowed to serve its function
independently and to the best of its ability. Similarly, an exterior wall
will incorporate multiple systems to create an outward appearance a
steel structure, waterproofing membrane, and the exterior finish, among
other layers, combine to create a single wall construction. Only the
outermost layer is what most of us have the opportunity to directly see
and touch. This layer, in addition to enclosing the wall and serving as
the first weatherproofing barrier, is devoted to aesthetics.
How architects begin to wrestle with the appearance of this outermost
layer can become a compelling story of its own. On what basis do we
design this layer? How can we rationalize the aesthetics for this last layer
and ultimately, the building? What many of the architects in this issue
reveal is that ornament need not be a dirty word. Ornament need not
be considered superficial and superfluous. Instead, this outermost layer,

representing ornament in architecture, as Farshid Moussavi would say
can function.1
Forward 209 reveals approaches by contemporary (and a few historic)
architects as they grapple with the question of ornament. Matthias
Kohler and Frank Barkow work through an iterative process of internally
defined goals and assumptions that are programmed parametrically and
analyzed to produce specific technical and visual affects. Like sketching,
computers allow designers to visualize what is being created so that they
can adjust, modify or amplify their approach. Nick Gelpi stresses the
importance of physical modeling and a 1:1 mockup as part of the design
process and material investigation. For Gelpi, mockups value comes
from the tests capacity to produce new insight into the consequences of
whats been speculated. Only by designing, building, and testing real
objects and materials can we gain insight into interesting and new ways
to use them. Eduardo Cadaval and Clara Sola-Morales take a hands-on
approach as well. Their highlighted project, translucent, paper display
walls for the Susana Solano art exhibit created from the interior structure
of doors, reveals Cadaval and Sola-Moraless exploration of found
objects surprising material properties. And, last but not least, Forward
209 also includes a historical perspective featuring an article about Louis
Sullivans banks as well as a photo essay illustrating the intricate detailing
of Iranian architecture paired with images of Iranian life.
NOTES:
1 Moussavi, Farshid and Michael Kubo, The Function of Ornament (Actar, 2006).
Christina A. Noble, AIA, LEED AP

Forward Director
Ms. Noble has worked as an architectural professional
for eight years. She has worked on numerous high
profile and large-scale projects in her career, including
collegiate, mixed-use, government and private development high-rise buildings. Christina graduated from Rice University with
her Bachelor of Architecture in 2002 and currently lives in Phoenix,
Arizona.
VEILING
by Matthias Kohler
Private House
photography by Walter Mair
VEILING 6
Architectural facades assume life when they

are not just considered articulated surfaces,
but when the material depth of the surface
construction is activated. Regardless of the
tools utilized, traditional or digital, we must
consider how facades are made and find
elegant ways to build. Digital fabrication
allows us to conceive and control intricate
constructions with a fine level of detail.
Computer programming plays a special role,
allowing us to enrich material constructions
with a digital logic. The culture of logic
(whose tradition began long before the
advent of the computer) and the cultures of
construction and craft merge. A new order
of materiality, which we refer to as Digital
Materiality, evolves. Design data is directly
woven into material constructions: data
meets material, computer programming
meets construction, and architectural design
meets craft in the conceptually most explicit
way. At this level we are tuning inherent
qualities of material processes to broaden
their aesthetic and functional vocabulary.
We proactively seek to invent constructive
details and appreciate fabrication methods
that foster surprising, sensual and meaningful
expressions.
Gantenbein Vinyard Facade

photography by Ralph Feiner
The Gantenbein Vineyard was already under

construction when the project architects,
Bearth & Deplazes, invited us to design the
faade for the new grape fermentation hall.
The buildings concrete frame is conceived as
a basket holding oversized grapes. To design
the faade, we parametrically programmed
grapes to fall into a virtual basket in digitally
simulated gravity until they were closely
packed. We transferred the four-sided spatial
image data and translated the physical
rotation to individual bricks. As a result,
the walls sensual softness dissolves into
the materiality of the stonework. The faade
appears as a solidified dynamic form.
Robotic production methods enabled us to

FORWARD 109
Gantenbein Vineyard Facade
VEILING 7
Gantenbein Vinyard Robotic Construction
photograpny by Gramazio & Kohler, ETH Zurich
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VEILING 8
precisely lay and glue each of the 20,000
bricks according to programmed parameters,
at the desired angle and exact prescribed
intervals. Depending on the angle on which
they are set, the individual bricks each reflect
light differently and thus take on varying
degrees of lightness. Similarly to pixels on a
computer screen, their macro-organization
creates a distinctive image and communicates
the identity of the vineyard. In contrast to a
two-dimensional screen, however, there is a
dramatic play between plasticity, depth and
color, depending on position and the angle of
the sun.
In addition to its visual intricacy, the masonry
functions as temperature buffer and filters
sunlight for the processing of grapes behind.

The bricks are offset so that moderate
amounts of diffuse daylight enter the hall
through the gaps between the bricks. The
penetrating daylight creates a mild, yet
luminous atmosphere. In order to make the
pattern discernible from the interior, we laid
the bricks so that the gap at full deflection
was nearly closed. This produced a maximum
contrast between the open and closed joints
and allowed the light to poetically model the
interior walls. Looking towards the light, the
design becomes manifest in its modulation
through the open gaps. It is superimposed
on the image of the landscape that glimmers
through at different levels of definition
according to the perceived contrast.
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Gantenbein Vinyard Facade photography by Ralph Feiner
VEILING 9
Gantenbein Vinyard photography by Ralph Feiner
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Gantenbein Vinyard photography by Ralph Feiner
VEILING 10
Private House
The design for the private house reinterprets

the typology of nearby gable-roof barns
through its distinctive geometry, loft spaces
and the materialization of its faade. The
private house maintains the gabled form
of a traditional barn set within the Swiss
landscape. However, from a distance, the
building does not reveal its open interior
character at first glance. The deep screen
of vertical pine veils all sides and creates
an introverted, almost abstract appearance
that blends into the surrounding context of
vernacular buildings. When seen from an
angle, the slats perceptually collapse into a

continuous, vertically articulated, wooden
surface. The effect shifts from subtle to
dramatic depending on the view towards the
faade. The thinning of the faade hints at the
open character of the spaces inside the house
without telling the whole story.
Experienced from the inside, the external
wood screen provides a sense of intimacy
that contrasts with the loft-like spaces. A
warm light, filtered through the pine wood
slats, illuminates the exposed concrete walls
and ceilings. Close up, paddle-shaped slats
in series create a visual impression of an
FORWARD 109
Private House, Riedikon, Switzerland
VEILING 11
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Private House
VEILING 12
Private House
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Private House
VEILING 13
Matthias Kohler
is partner in the Zurich
architecture practice Gramazio
& Kohler with Fabio Gramazio.
Together with Gramazio,
Kohler holds the Chair for
Architecture and Digital Fabrication at the
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Their
research focuses on the exploration of highly
informed architectural elements and processes
and produces design strategies for full-scale
automated fabrication in their robotic
construction facility. Kohler is the co-editor of
the book Digital Materiality in Architecture,
which outlines the theoretical context for the
full synthesis between data and material in
architectural design and fabrication.
FORWARD 109
elliptic lens that opens to focused views

in the surrounding nature preserve - a
window within the window opens as one
moves through the spaces. Additionally,
the cross section of the slats skews up to
forty-five degrees, a manipulation that
provides asymmetrical views to the side of
each window. The view to one side is open
- the slats become fine strings towards the
windows center. The view to the other side
remains protected as it closes at a tight angle.
This asymmetry allows optimally balanced
views, privacy and lighting on every side
of the house. The wood screen becomes a
poetic instrument, shifting atmospheres within
the spaces through an intricate play of light
and shadow during the day and night. As a
delicate membrane between the inside and
outside, the faade encourages exploration of
the phenomenological richness it creates.
MOCKUPS 14
MOCKUPS
by Nick Gelpi
Studies revealed how densities of pattern produce different resolution of feathering

drawings by Nick Gelpi
In 1960, while conducting a test for the United States Air Force, Joe
Kittinger did something which had never been done before; he piloted a hot air balloon to a height of 102,800 feet above the earth, then
he jumped. When he leaped out, to his surprise nothing happened,
he found himself suspended in space.
Although an accomplished air force pilot, Joe Kittinger was here, no

more than a testdummy. He was a 1:1 scale figure in a very large
place, venturing into an unknown territory which lacked definition.
In architecture we often place a graphic scale figure into a drawing to
lend reference and understanding to the scale of whats represented.
Joe Kittinger was a living 1:1 scale figure lending evidence to the
consequences of existing in the world at this scale.
FORWARD 109
Joe Kittinger was actually plummeting back to earth at more than 600
miles per hour, he just didnt know it. This marks the highest jump in
history. Because he was above 99% of the atmospheres mass, there
was no wind resistance to stabilize him. With no ripple of his space
suit, this jumper believed he had gone too far, beyond the reach of
the Earths gravitational pull. He was convinced he was suspended
in space unable to return to the ground. The reality of this situation
was beyond the capacity of the expected representational norms to
evidence.
MOCKUPS 15
FORWARD 109
Figure 1
photography by Nick Gelpi
MOCKUPS 16
could occur. The treacheries of hi-altitude

bailout were anticipated; however the only
method for determination was to send Joe
there to precipitate the results, by enacting it.
This is the territory of the real. Within architecture, to engage the various categories of the
real at 1:1 scale requires a conventional test
termed a mockup. While the superficiality of an image seamlessly navigates between
scales through abstraction and without consequence, a mockup only works, in its thickness
and depths, at the 1:1 scale.
Figure 2: How to break whats built; How to build a break

Architecture, like space exploration, makes

predictions and speculations. Sometimes
the reality of a scenario cannot adequately
be documented or anticipated through solely
representational means. There are the literal
contingencies of any project which often resist
representation. Why risk Joe Kittingers life?
Because otherwise we might not know what
This is the territory of Charles and Ray Eames

film, Powers of Ten. The high-stakes of scale
shifting are anticipated in the subtitle,
dealing with the relative size of things in the
universe, and the effect of adding another
zero. The Eames make convincing evidence
that this is a scale specific world. The consequences of our interaction with the world are
fluid and become more poignant with shifts
in the scalar zoom. Joe Kittingers jump is a
mockup of the world at a new scale, demonstrating the turbulences of scaling the frame
that brackets that jumper by 10.
From architecture history, there are two important examples of mockups that demonstrate
the apparent categories for testing scales discriminating tendencies at the 1:1. Stating less
FORWARD 109
Mockups occupy a vital territory which ties

representational matter to the existing reality
of the world. The value of any test lies not in
its ability to be executed; value comes from
the tests capacity to produce new insight into
the consequences of whats been speculated.
Kittinger didnt know what would occur as a
result of testing something of this magnitude.
This unpredictability is a function of scale.
The United States Air Force took a predictable
scenario, skydiving which normally occurs at
a height of 10,000 feet, and scaled it up by
a power of 10, from 10,000 feet to 100,000
feet. This scale shift thrust the test, and those
involved, into a new, destabilized, relational
territory.
MOCKUPS 17
Figure 3: As the plywood is bent around a radius which decreases, feathering increases allowing translucency, sight, light and color
photographny by Nick Gelpi
Mockups verify the vitality of an image. To

mock means to treat with contempt or ridicule, to defy or challenge.1 What is unavoidable in a mockup is responsiveness. Mockups
demonstrate the responsiveness in what they

do. They will either do what is predictable
or do something unexpected, but unyielding
within this concept of doing is the influence
of scale on the behavior of the response.
I recently completed a series of mockups as
design studies that considered the significance
of the various territories of scale occupied
by architectures typical constructions. The
mockups in this series all behave at a particular scale. More like earthquakes of various
magnitudes, than an arbitrary progression of
size, these projects make particular use of a
consistent material diagram, the ability for
plywood of incremental thicknesses to feather. [Fig. 1] Not an image, rather a condition, the interest was to coax out the projects
potential energies, that is, the ability for it to
behave in productive ways.
Scale of Matter
We began by treating a material like a specimen, looking for what it would do, not what it
looked like. We were interested in the materials ability to behave in counter-intuitive
ways, in this case draping as a typical centenary structure might work. The drape studies,
while somewhat rote, demonstrate how the
incremental diminishing of thickness (a number) delineates a different configuration within
the earths gravitational pull. Gravity is flowing through the material in a certain way that
FORWARD 109
about the world in general and more about

the relational categories for architectures efficacy, the histories of both projects required
an execution of the designs at full scale for
the purpose of reaching conclusions about
the merits of each. One occurred in 1936,
when Frank Lloyd Wright constructed a 1:1
mockup of his unusually shaped dendriform
column for the S. C. Johnson Wax building
to convince the public that, while what he
had drawn may have broken all the rules of
the day, it was indeed possible. A structuralmaterial hypothesis, the only method for
convincing was to put the design into motion
in the material world. The other occurred in
1912, when Mies van der Rohe constructed
a 1:1 mockup of a house, the Kroller-Muller
Villa Project, out of canvas, to convince the
client of a different type of validity, the quality of its effects. A spatial-scalar test, its worth
mentioning that only after a complete spatial
mockup the client rejected the design, further
evidencing the value of this test in its ability to
produce failure. While the nature of evidence
sought in both is different, one structural,
one cunning, the motivations for each are the
same. Like dress rehearsals in the tradition of
the theater, they both seek to demonstrate that
they work at a scale that isnt representational.
MOCKUPS 18
Figure 5: Hovering mockup drawings
drawings by Nick Telpi
FORWARD 109
Figure 4: Densities of pattern produce different resolution of feathering

drawings by Nick Telpi
The standard off the shelf plywood sheet is engineered to resist the entropic deformation of
gravity, but what if an entropic response could
be used for something productive? Inscribed
strategic cuts respond to the bending radius
of the sheet as the tightened radius produces
more extreme feathering increasing with it
transparency and transmission of colored
light. [Fig. 3]
Scales of Transparency
We connected resulting conditions of transparency, boundary, aperture, and color glow
to the thickness of material and its ability to
bend. As the feather wall tightens up towards its center and exceeds the maximum
curvature allowable, it begins to break and
fall apart. The transparency emerges from
the density of pattern in the surface and its
tangential correspondence to the turbulence
of the wall. While typical wall construction
parts exist adjacently in addition to one another, think stud framing and cladding, with little
disruption to each other, the parts of this wall
mix together and exhibit a nuanced, behavioral boundary, exhibiting color, translucency
and shape. [Fig. 4]
Scale of Structures
By migrating the feather condition from a
screen to that of motivated structural idea,
what operated in its impartial deflections and
deformations as a light modulator became an
idea about how supports could be cut out of a
single sheet and differentiated to emerge and
play the recognizable role of a structural system. The relationship between backup frame
(structure) and skin configuration is inverted
as the skin becomes the structure itself, ob-
MOCKUPS 19
scuring the structural role of the frame. The

frame now becomes an excessive dead-load
to be supported by the structural skin. The
structure results from the assembled combination of parts. The implementation of various
radii bends the skin and pattern tight enough
that the resultant feathering lifts the entire
object off the ground. The entire assembly is
propped up, seemingly hovering above the
ground by the lift of the plywood feathers.
The frame that ordinarily would do the lifting
is now lifted producing a reversal of structural
roles. [Fig. 5]
Scales of Overlap
Engineering the support further we developed
a leaning structure. In this structural mockup
a verifiable composite structural configuration
occurs. The structural frame leans over and
relies on its skin to prop itself up. Without
the skin it would fall over. Without the frame
the skin wouldnt expand to configure for
structural capacity. And, if this skin werent
this thickness of plywood, or rather if it were
paper, it wouldnt be strong enough to act
as a support at the scale of this mockup. A
double layer of skin triangulates at the point
where it meets the ground to form a structural
depth like a monocoque system. The frame
needs the skin and the skin needs the frame to
configure itself for stability.
Scale Finding
The largest of the mockups increases the scale
of materials to construction grade plywood,
which determined the size of the whole assembly, a shift from a form finding exercise
to a type of scale finding procedure, which
requires the capacity of the part to behave in
alignment with the whole. [Fig. 6] To suggest
a smaller scale version of this design requires
a revision of ingredients as they will only
work together at this scale without failing at
the integrity of their material.
FORWARD 109
makes it take this position and subsequently

produce this appearance. These configurations are earth specific and would change if
sited on the moon where gravity is 1/6th that of
the earths.
Nick Gelpi
Figure 6: Scale finding mockup, 1/8 inch birch plywood

Between Scales
Architecture often looks to references from
outside the discipline to gain new rules and
direction for its production. This series of
mockups defers to cues from within the way
things already exist in the world. Utilizing a
universal diagram or condition, the various
objects may all look similar, however they all
specify a response to a unique world. They
are all different in their particular responses to
the categorical scales that architecture proffers. As evident in Joe Kittingers jump, the
nature of the world changes in relation to
the scale figure, it behaves differently. The
universality of the pattern is delineated into
categories as particularities of these projects
demonstrate the shifting scales between them.
Scale doesnt look like anything, it is invisible,
yet it permeates the arena for architecture.
As the traditional categories of architectures
catalogue of scalar implementation, windows/
screens, structure/envelope, have become
redundant, what increasingly looks the same,
requires an invisible efficacy in its ability to
do work. Perhaps architectures focus for
innovation can find new fodder adjacent to
pragmatic and formal ingenuity by discovering the in-between zones of scale, where
the world behaves differently, and provides
untapped potential energies for architectures
wandering future.
is a visiting Lecturer at the

MIT School of Architecture +
Planning, and principal in the
design office PALEO. Prior to
teaching at MIT, he was the
Howard E. LeFevre Emerging Practitioner
Fellow at The Ohio State University, and has
previously taught design studios at Columbia
University. In 2007 he received ARCHITECT
Magazines first annual R&D award. Gelpi
holds a professional degree in architecture
from Tulane University. In 2003 he graduated
from Columbia University in New York with
a Masters of Science in Advance Architecture
Design. He has worked in the New York
offices of nArchitects, G-tects, and most
recently Steven Holl Architects from 20042008.
MOCKUPS 20
1 mock. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2009.
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NOTES:
by Tom Wiscombe
OUT OF THE LAB AND INTO THE JUNGLE 21
OUT OF THE LAB AND INTO THE JUNGLE
Have you ever heard of the Bowerbird? This bird, known to animal
cognition experts but not so much to architects, is intriguing because
it appears to exist at the edge of consciousness, driven by both
bottom-up instinct as well as what appears to be taste. In order to
attract female mates, male birds build an audacious mating-stage,
characterized by ornate thatch-work, berry-juice paint, and colorful
collections of organic and synthetic objects. This is not a nest, but a
girl-magnet, and while it is evidence of the males prowess and ability
to procure resources, its primary expression is of the males aesthetic
sensibility in construction. Females are highly discerning-- they look
for formal coherency, color composition, and construction innovation
in these stages. According to James and Carol Gould, authors of The
Animal Architect, the males constant fussing to try new variants
implies an element of something like personal style, noting that
the birds must receive some kind of pleasure from the sight of such
things.1 What is so interesting about the Bowerbird is that they have
such a highly-refined sensibility for excess, something we usually
only attribute to the human animal. How we love to short-change
non-human animals! But then, there is the Bowerbird, seemingly
operating based on motor programs, environmental cues, and
necessity, but also (gasp!) its appreciation for architectural affect!
Architecture has been obsessed with science for the past 20 years,
in terms of the digital simulations and formfinding, generative
design, and seductive discoveries in the natural sciences relating
to complexity and systems theory. This obsession also reflects a
FORWARD 109
Taipei Performing Arts Center drawing by Emergent
The Problem with Swarm Architecture

Consider the explosion of new rationale for
design all around us, including parametric
design, swarm architecture, parametric
urbanism, and so on, all of which appear to
be apologies or justifications for design. The
fact that these are often used interchangeably
is telling, since we are in fact dealing with
contradictory terms. Parametric design, for
instance, is as top-down as puppetry, but it
is often promoted as a bottom-up process.
In parametrics, the outputs always resemble
the inputs, which is impossible in generative
systems. While parametric techniques are
undoubtedly good for rationalizing geometry
and maintaining associations between
components, they always reaffirm zero-sum
logic rather than excess.
Swarm architecture is a contradiction in
itself, insofar as architecture in the world does
The problem is that scientific rationale in

design-- related to process and thinking-- has
begun to overpower the actual effects of the
built thing in the world, in particular its affect
and contribution to culture. Processes have
often become the end in themselves rather
than a means to an end. And if the architect is
not interested in producing particular effects
through architecture then they are interlopers.
not arise spontaneously based on simple rules,

but instead emerges as a complex political,
economic, material, technological, and
cultural activity. People have been working
for nearly two decades on swarm logics as
they might pertain to architecture. They have
succeeded in producing the most beautiful
particle tracery and agent-based animations a
la Craig Reynoldss flocking algorithms from
1986, but these appear to exist somewhere
between pseudo-science and visual art, not
architecture. A virtual agent is not the same
as a brick. And when you force the relation,
you end up with something anemic and weak,
without any of the traits of a complex adaptive
system like, for instance, a swarm.
Into the Jungle

In our office we are bolting out of the
laboratory and into the jungle, Jurrasic
Park style. In the lab, we would have to be
doing research which of course becomes
problemmatic when you compare scientific
research with architectural research. For
research to be research, it requires two things,
one, that it be reproduceable, and two, that it
be productive even in failure.4 Architectural
research cannot hold up to that. Also, if we
were in the lab, we would be invested in a
quest for absolute truth rather than resonance
(relevance mixed with affect), which
architecture should probably not be doing. In
the jungle, we can instead concentrate on the
production of vivid features and behaviors,
color gradients, variability, wild ornament,
and atmospherics. When youre in the jungle,
FORWARD 109
conscious effort of the neo avante-guarde to

move beyond the critical project of the 1970s
and 80s towards a materialist paradigm.
In 2009, it appears that many practitioners,
especially in academia, have lost interest
in, or sight of, disciplinary issues specific to
architecture. As Jeff Kipnis has said, in order
for something to be a discipline, it must have
its own, independent form of knowledge,
otherwise it ceases to be a discipline at all.2
Architecture loves to borrow from other
disciplines; it is a kind of tradition since the
schizm of design and construction during the
Rennaisance. The danger is, when we begin
to promote the wholesale transfer of scientific
knowledge and values into architecture, we
begin to lose the richness and true complexity
architecture can have. I am myself a scienceminded architect, and I am beginning to feel
uneasy with what I can best describe as the
tendency to promote process over effects, or
in another way, thinking over feeling. The best
architecture is robust enough to operate in
multiple ontological realms.3
it is affect first, process second. This is not

to say that issues of utility or evolution can
be excised from the discussion, but that its
simply a relief to admit that architecture is not
a science, and that architectural effects can
be created in myriad, messy ways rather than
according to scientific method.
Our design process is messy. It leaves loose
ends. It allows for some things to be slightly
out of control (generative) and others to
be unapologetically authored. The use of
computation becomes sporadic and strategic
rather than all-encompassing. Scripting turns
out to be very valuable for this kind of guerilla
approach. Although it is certainly a subset of
algorithmic design, it does not have the same
implications of having scientific validity or
magical properties. Scripting assumes no scale
or end-use, nor does it confuse architecture
with natural phenomena. It is a tool in need
of an author to direct its use. Scripting, as
my wise colleague Peter Testa likes to say,
is like sketching.5 But sketching with a
computational sensibility, and sketching in
populations of versions, rather than laboring
away at a single expression. Scripting simply
automates, iterates, and delivers sets of
geometry which, depending on available
features, can become structural patterns,
metabolic networks, enclosure systems, or
ornament. Scripting does not imply value in
Working this way with scripting produces

a multiplicity of found objects with openended potentials; nature, not coincidentally,
always works from found objects as well.
There is no such thing as a tabula rasa in the
natural world. There are no beginnings and no
ends, just sets of features and behaviors which
are incrementally evolved, sometimes in baby
steps through optimization, and other times in
massive leaps through mutation. This process
leaves a messy trail of excess, redundancy,
obfuscated function, and non-optimal
features. In any case, the complexity and
distinctiveness of a species cannot be fully
understood only by examining its evolutionary
history, but rather by engaging it in its vital
state, in all of its visual and behavioral beauty.
What matters in buildings, in the same way, is
not the sum of their history of production, but
rather the real-time effects they generate.
Dragonfly Parametric Plan

drawing by Emergent
Our office has found scripting to be most

productive when used in early project phases
in an abstract way, with no pre-determination
of scale or target applications, but framed
within a known architectural territory such as
structure, mechanical systems, apertures, or
surface character. Iteratively, features begin to
appear which appeal to either performative or
aesthetic sensibilities, and eventually, both.
These features never arise fully-formed, rather
only by teasing them out, and by constantly
feeding specific principles and desires back
into the mix. Eventually, proto-architectural
species emerge. These species have begun
to accumulate in our collection of geometry
we refer to as The Menagerie. Buildings
are designed either by using several species
in various hierarchies or scales, or a single
species across its full behaviorial range.
Nevertheless, features never appear all the
time, from massing, to organization, to detail.
You would never find that kind of relentless
consistency in the jungle.
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itself; it is a means to an end. A script can

never create real complexity on its own.

Dragonfly photography by Emergent
Dragonfly, done in collaboration with Buro

Happold Engineers, was an experiment
in hybrid pattern-formation and structural
feedback loops in a canopy structure. The
game was set up in order to elicit a variety
of heterogeneous behaviors in response to
its asymmetrical shaping environment and
extreme cantilever. The name Dragonfly is
not a metaphor, but it does imply biomimicry.
Borrowing from studies on dragonfly wing
morphology, we were interested in how wing
performance was related to several discreet
structural features. The most prominent is the
hybrid cellular pattern which shifts from linear
chains of four-sided cells, which operate well
in bending, to honeycomb patterns which
are flexible and operate as membranes. The
veins are deep and also pleated for additional
stiffness, while the membranes are thin and
slightly curved. We call this a beam-brane.
The process of design was messy-- it involved
a number of algorithms, populationengineering routines, and an overarching
design sensibility of achieving heterogeneous
patterning which could deal with extreme

conditions without breaking its beam-brane
syntax. Several boundary conditions were set
up in ANSYS (a generative engineering tool)
to be applied to the relatively uncharacterized
starting condition of a Voronoi pattern
(again, not a tabula rasa). Each boundary
condition-- from cell morphology and density,
to member depth and width, to local shape-was used to generate populations of solutions.
Rather than attempting to find the best of
all possible structures, our team used these
studies to generate simultaneously improved
performance and aesthetic coherence and
complexity.
There is a temptation to understand the story
of Dragonfly as if engineering algorithms
generated the project, but the reality is that
the process was driven as much by the desire
for particular architectural effects- coherency,
smooth gradients, and radical shifts in depth
and densities. Identifying moments in the
structure which were designed versus those
which appeared is an irrelevant distinction,
as neither is more or less legitimate.
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Dragonfly

Dragonfly engineering drawings by Emergent
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Dragonfly engineering drawings by Emergent

Novosibirsk Pavillion drawing by Emergent
Gridshell structures, prevalent in the 1960s,

are part of a lineage of experimentation into
material intelligence and analogue shape
computation leading all the way back to the
Gothic era. The character of these structures
is a function of their form-found curvature as
well as their patterned relief which reduces
weight while increasing stiffness. These
solutions, while efficient and elegant, were
often limited by their inability to respond to
local forces and multiple objectives.
Our contemporary re-examination of the
gridshell accepts the material sensibility of this
earlier work while questioning its monotonous
pattern geometry and tendency toward
universal forms. This design is based on the
simultaneous response of pattern to surface
curvature and structural force pathways,
generating a highly varied and informed shell.
Variability in pattern morphology, density,
and depth allow for a localized structural
tuning which would be impossible with

invariant pattern logic. Ultimately, limitations
of traditional form-finding, where structures
tend toward funicular forms, are lifted, and
more heterogeneous shell shapes begin to be
possible.
The pattern logic of the stiffening veins
was critical for the spatial sensibility of this
project and it was painstakingly developed
as a hybrid of several shape grammars and
computational techniques. A base subdivision
of the surfaces was achieved based on
curvature where pinched or twisted regions
of the surfaces were broken down into
smaller and smaller quadrilateral cells. A
routine for transforming this subdivision into
a branching logic was developed in order to
generate a more complex and robust network
of structural pathways, one which could
be easily re-adjusted based on engineering
information and an evolving sensibility for the
whole.
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Novosibirsk Pavilion
Flower Street Bioreactor

Our point of departure for this project was
to engage the nascent cultural paradigm shift
from thinking about energy as something
which comes magically from distant sources
to something which can be generated
locally in a variety of ways. Our goal was
not, however, to undertake an engineering
experiment, or to simply express material
processes, although this is certainly one
A solar array, used to collect energy during the

day, winds up into the branches of an adjacent
tree, jungle-style. This energy will be stored in
a battery and used during the night to run the
various systems.
Flower Street Bioreactor drawing by Emergent
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Flower Street Bioreactor drawing by Emergent
The project is an aquarium-like bioreactor

inserted into the facade of a building, which
contains green algae colonies that produce
oil through photosynthesis. The aquarium is
made of thick transparent acrylic, molded
to create the intricate relief on the front.
This relief tracks along with and supports an
internal lighting armature which is based on
the Bio-feedback Algae Controller, invented
by OriginOil in Los Angeles. Tuned LED lights
that vary in color and intensity support algae
growth at different stages of development,
maximizing output. According to OriginOil,
this is a true bio-feedback system the algae
lets the LED controller know what it needs
as it needs it, creating a self-adjusting growth
system. At night, when this system intensifies,
it generates a simultaneously urban and jungle
affects: glittery reflections on acrylic combine
with an eerie lan vital of glowing algae.
dimension of the project. Our primary

goal was to create a sense of delight and
exotic beauty around new technologies by
decontextualizing them and amplifying their
potential atmospheric and ornamental effects.

Taipei Performing Arts Center drawing by Emergent
Taipei Performing Arts Center

The aim for this design for the Taipei
Performing Arts Center is to create deep,
varied, colorful Urban Cavities between
and around the three given theater masses.
These Cavities allow the city to penetrate
the exclusive territory of the performing arts
center type, creating a dynamic, 24-hour
commercial and cultural zone.
NOTES:
1. Gould, James and Carol, Animal Architects, Basic Books, New York (2007)
p. 246
2. Kipnis, Jeff, AADRL Documents 2: A Design Research Compendium, Jeff
Kipnis in Conversation, Architectural Association Press, London (2009) P.
51-52
3. Kipnis, Jeff, *@#*!#!!, SCI-Arc Lecture, January, 2008.
4. Kipnis, Jeff, ibid.
5. Testa, Peter. From informal discussions in our SCI-Arc Digital Design Studio,
Tom Wiscombe
founded Emergent, a platform
for researching contemporary
models of biology, engineering,
and computation to produce
an architecture characterized
by formal variability, high performance, and
atmospherics. Emergent has developed an
international profile via an oeuvre of competition entries and installations, including the
MoMA/ P.S.1. The work of Emergent is part of
the permanent collection of the Museum of
Modern Art, New York.Wiscombe was Chief
Designer at Coop Himmelb(l)au for over 10
years and teaches at SCI_Arc.
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2006-9.
The morphology of the project is based on

patterns of armatures and pleats which form
an intricate ornamental network. Armatures
are woven together to create circulation and
structure, allowing views from the plaza into
the building as well as from the building down
into the Plaza and out into the city. Micropleats track along the armatures but also
spread out along surfaces, spatially drawing
visitors inward. The sensations produced
by this fluid geometry are heightened by a
gradient of color which is most intense on
the interior but fades out to the exterior of the
building.
THE SEMANTIC METAL SURFACE

by L. William Zahner
Architectural metals are the family of materials

that encompass aluminum alloys, copper and
copper alloys, brasses and bronzes, iron and
steel alloys including stainless steels, lead, tin,
titanium, and zinc.
Each of these metals has a vast array of
finishes and textures that add color and
interface with light like no other substances
on earth. Many of these metals can be
coated with other metals to enhance their
performance or aesthetic appeal. For
example, zinc in the process of galvanizing
provides tremendous benefit via galvanic
protection to steel. Aluminum and steel are
often painted to provide a particular color
while adding a barrier to prevent the ambient
conditions from affecting the base materials
performance. In these cases, metals act simply
as an affordable ductile form.
Stainless steel, titanium and to a lesser degree
aluminum, are known for their unchanging
surface chemistry. They react with the
surrounding environment, for the most part,
at a very slow rate. Their oxides develop
rapidly and resist additional surface attack.
Other metals, such as copper and copper
alloys, zinc, and the weathering steel alloys,
are left exposed to react with the surrounding
environment. These metals combine with
substances in the air and develop very
tenacious surface oxides. These oxides
Previous page: The de Young Museum by Herzog & de Meuron
photography by A. Zahner Company
These inorganic surface coatings, commonly

known as patinas, develop as the metal is
exposed to external pollutants such as carbon
dioxide, chlorine and sulfur. When you think
about it, a copper roof is removing carbon
dioxide and sulfur from the atmosphere and
trapping it in inert mineral compounds formed
on the metal surface.
The metals used in architecture will not end
up in some future waste heap1 because of
the inherent value they possess. The metal
recycling business worldwide is a robust
industry employing many thousands of
people. No other materials used in building
construction are so thoroughly recaptured
and recycled for use over and over again than
metals. Environmental issues surrounding
the mining and concentration of metals are
valid but often are taken out of context.
Efforts are being made within the industry to
address long term affects of metal mining and
processing. Recycling of metals reduces the
need for mining and reprocessing recycled
materials uses significantly less energy.2
Aluminum recycling, for example, has
become a substantial secondary business.
Reducing the ravages on the environment
caused by mining, recycling bypasses the
large ore refining costs. Aluminum refinement
requires tremendous amounts of electricity,
some 20,000 kilowatt hours per ton of
aluminum refined. Most small towns use less
electricity per year than aluminum refinement
uses per day. The aluminum scrap recycling
industry claims that recycled aluminum saves
up to 80 million tons of greenhouse gas
emissions per year.
The same can be said for other metals. Over
80% of the copper used to create the beautiful
faade on the deYoung Museum of Art in San
THE SEMANTIC METAL SURFACE 30
enhance the appearance of the metal and

provide extremely impervious barriers. The
barriers are very close to inert mineral forms
that are found in nature.
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When defining a logic to use a particular

surface material, various aesthetic qualities
such as color, texture, patterns and boundaries
are often considered. In our pursuit to arrive
at materials that perform over a lifetime and
do not possess hidden cost to our childrens
future, considerations of manufacture and
eventual recovery and recycling of the
material must also play a part. Architectural
metals achieve these design requirements.
They are durable and lightweight. They
can be formed, shaped, pierced, cut and
machined in ways only plastics can attempt to
copy.

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The de Young Museum by Herzog & de Meuron
Aluminum alloys
Copper alloys
Iron
Lead
Monel
Tin
Titanium
Zinc
Common Alloys Used in

Architecture
A3003, A3004, A3105, A5005,
A5052, A5086, A6061, A6063
C110 commercial pure copper
Various Brasses:
C220, C230, C270, C280, C385
Carbon Steel
Weathering Steel
Stainless steel alloys 304, 316
Commercial Pure (very limited
use today)
Alloy of Nickel and Copper
Typically as a coating on
Copper or alloyed with Zinc and
coated on stainless
Commercial Pure
Physical Vapor coating on
Stainless
Commercial Pure
Hot dipped coating on steel
(Galvanizing)
Metal
Architectural Metals
Copper has an infinite recycled life. It can

be used over and over again. In the event
the deYoung is ever dismantled, one can be
certain the surface will be recycled and used
on the next great museum faade. Can you
say this of other building materials?3 There
are no significant recycling efforts underway
for stone, concrete, glass, fiberglass or rubber
membranes. Wood and brick have levels of
secondary recycling potential but not anything
remotely comparable to the infinite recycling
ability of aluminum, copper, steel, titanium
and zinc.
Metals are available in many forms designed
to take advantage of the inherent character

only metals possess. Metals can be rolled
into extremely thin sheets, even foils, which
have directional attributes such as grain,
tensile strength and ductility. Even in these
thin forms, corrosion resistance is not
compromised. When correctly assembled,
thin skins of metal can distribute the stresses
that develop from changes in the ambient
conditions without affecting long-term
behavior. Creating thin surfaces of metal
allows for optimizing the material usage
while achieving very flexible, yet durable,
lightweight enclosures. This attribute of metal
is the reason why aircraft and automobiles are
shrouded in metal skins.
For intricate building surfaces, metals offer
similar advantages over other materials. Metal
roofing has long been a lightweight surfacing
material that provides protection from the
environment. At the same time, metal can be
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Francisco was derived from recycled scrap

metal that was recast and turned into sheet
copper. Every single perforation and sheared
edge left over from the process of creating the
elaborate panels was collected and recycled
at the fabrication facility.

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Contemporary Jewish Museum
by Studio Daniel Libeskind
photography by Studio Daniel Libeskind

National Museum of the American Indian
by Romona Sakiestewa
Technological advances in fabrication

processes have taken thin flexible sheets of
metal and created stunningly intricate wall
surfaces for buildings. Perforating, pressing
and forming of metal provides the designer a
visual and tactile interface to offer his client
and the public to experience. Incorporating
shape and texture is no longer a significant
artistic premium.
Thin, inexpensive surfaces of metal can
enclose a building geometry and offer
a lifetime of performance with little
Various Forms of Metal

Sheet, coil and plate
Casting
Extrusion
Wire
Powder
Coatings Physical Vapor or
molten coating
maintenance. A common means of achieving
a metal surface is to assemble smaller
elements known by various terms as skins,
cassettes, or shingles. These thin, flexible
elements allow for intricate surfaces to be
enclosed without compromising the longterm performance of the metal. Each shingle
FORWARD 109
a significant design element used to define the

building geometry and establish the aesthetic
image.
To make the thin surfaces work efficiently,

close attention to the edges are necessary.
The edges are what the eye captures and most
inconsistencies will manifest themselves at the
boundaries. They can destroy the appearance,
allow moisture to enter behind the metal
surface, and add unnecessary clutter to the
overall appearance. When skillfully executed,
the edges define the surface geometry and
allow for the control and distribution of
stresses and moisture.
acts like a scale on a fish, overlapping and

engaging into the adjoining shingle. Stresses
do not pass over to the next panel but are
released at each edge.
The tendency is to apply covers to overlap

the edges of large sealant joints. It is cheaper,
quicker and for the most part, it will deter
moisture, but it will affect the aesthetic. It will
require adjustment and reseal at some point
and often can be less affective in performing
the function of keeping air and water from
entering behind the wall surface. It can be
like having patches on a fine suit. One
spends the money on the cloth but hires a less
skillful tailor to assemble the suit.
Top and Bottom this page:

Taubman Museum of Art
by Randall Stout Architects
photography by Timothy Dalton Photography
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Metal in expert hands can deliver the artfully

crafted surface that will stand the test of time
and deliver unsurpassed performance. Metals
used today will be recycled tomorrow and
used over and over again. Metals speak to a
logic that has a long-term purpose both in the
designs that can be achieved when correctly
executed and in the inherent nature of the
material.
L. William Zahner
President and CEO of Zahner
Company and Zahner
Architectural Metal
Consultants, has worked with
many of the worlds leading
architects, including Frank Gehry, Antoine
Predock, Herzog and de Meuron and Tadao
Ando. He has contributed to a number of
high profile projects using metal as a major
building material, including the Guggenheim
museum in Bilbao, Spain, the Experience Music Project in Seattle and the de young Museum in San Francisco.
Taubman Museum of Art

by Randall Stout Architects
photography by Timothy Dalton Photography
NOTES:
1 Composite materials that combine metal with plastic cores are not currently
recycled. Thus, when their useful life expires, they are sent to the landfill - a
true waste of metal.
2 Recycled aluminum uses less than 4% of the energy needed in the aluminum
refining process. It is predicted by the year 2020 over 30 million tons of aluminum will be from recycled scrap. This is equivelent to 18 years of primary
production. Source: Recycle Scrap Industry.
3 Excluding copper wire which often is created from refined copper ore, over
75% of the copper used in castings, sheet material, brass and bronze work is
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recycled copper. Source: Copper.org
INSIDE IRAN
Photography by Mark Edward Harris
INSIDE IRAN
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SULLIVAN'S BANKS 43
SULLIVAN'S BANKS
by Stacey Zwettler Keller
It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic,

Of all things physical and metaphysical,
Of all things human and all things super-human,
Of all true manifestations of the head,
Of the heart, of the soul,
That the life is recognizable in its expression,
That form ever follows function. This is the law.
A Tall Office Building Artistically Considered
by Louis Sullivan
At the turn of the century, following the Panic of 1893, the banking
industry had lost the publics confidence. There was a need to
reevaluate the industry relative to an uprising atmosphere of
progressivism. In this new era of social change, a new bank could
improve the surrounding town, as it expressed economic vitality 1.
Sullivan first strove to eliminate the neoclassical temple form typically
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Sullivan coined the phrase Form ever follows function, providing

a model for a new typology, the tall office building. Although
modernists later used Sullivans statement to eliminate ornament and
decoration from architecture even to the extent that ornament was
a crime Sullivans buildings did not turn away from aesthetics or
ornamentation. While his buildings could have a simple massing,
he also incorporated highly intricate designs to highlight and
complement the building massing. Dominating Sullivans later work
were his banks. Those most notable are the National Farmers Bank,
his first, in Owatonna, Minnesota, the Merchants National Bank, in
Grinnell, Iowa, and his last, the Farmers and Merchants Union Bank
in Columbus, Wisconsin. These banks provided new challenges of
image, massing, scale, and proportion. In these projects, Sullivan
provided a selection of materials and ornament, considering patterns,
reliefs, and colors, fitting to a new challenge, elevating the bank
within the public conscious. With the charge of a new typology,
Form follows function stands as the continuous thread through the
entirety of his work.
SULLIVAN'S BANKS 44
Grinnell Bank Terra Cotta Shop Drawing by Louis Sullivan
image from The Northwest Architectural Archives - University of Minnesota Libraries
The development of his plan organization

provided simple, open-scheme layouts
directly accessed from the sidewalk. He set
the stage for the ceremonial procession
into and through the banks by arranging and
alternating sequences of low, dark areas with
high, brightly lit areas. 4 The banking room
was the ultimate open, tall, and elegantly
lit space. Even the vault door acted as an

ornament to the room, symbolically placed on
axis with the main entrance, calling attention
to its elaborate mechanism, reassuring
symbols for patrons of both the availability
and safety of their hard-earned assets.
Often a lounge or farmers exchange room
was provided for the bankers to establish
relationships with the community5.
The surrounding buildings influenced many of
the banks elevations and details, to highlight
their integration into their communities. The
elevations combined and continued the
dimensions, rhythms and patterns of windows,
arches, and horizontal bandings 6. Sullivans
sense of scale also took into account the
distance at which it was viewed and the
materials in which it was to be executed. In
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used in this era. He eliminated the podium

and stairs as an exterior image to pursue a
Democratization of the form2 by freeing
the building faces of historic references and
creating a new iconography. Additionally,
in the interior he provided purposeful plan
layouts and cast light within the typical dark,
compartmentalized interiors, releasing the
shrouded financial transactions in darkness,
imposing pagan rituals.3
Grinnell Bank 4th Avenue Elevation by Louis Sullivan

image from The Bentley Historical Library - University of Michigan
SULLIVAN'S BANKS 45
The banks simple extruded mass provided

the basis for design, with highlights of the
significant entrance, main banking room,
and structure through ornament. These forms
are initially created with simple arithmetic
proportions to integrate visually the solids
and voids and the ornamental enframements
of the parts with the whole.8 The recurrent
forms of simple geometries of circles, halfcircles, and rectangles within the elevations
express the architectural masses and structural
components. The overall composition at

Owatonna expresses a single semi-circular
arch inscribed in a square. Within the broad
semi-circles, he enframes the deep-set stained
glass windows. This same fundamental
mechanism can be seen in the preliminary
sketches and shop drawings of the Grinnell
Banks main elevation. The dominating
circular window is enframed by rotating
diamonds and squares to signify the main
entrance, within the dominating square
brick faade. Also at the Columbus bank,
Sullivan used arithmetic proportions and
geometric figures to resolve the asymmetry
of the entrance to appear symmetrical. The
entry itself is recessed under the separating
terra cotta and marble plane, so the semicircular arched window banded with layers
of brick and terra cotta can display its
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his buildings, the upper parts were construed

in ornament of a larger scale, higher in relief
and courser in detail than at the base. He
also varied fine to course detail depending on
the material; the finer in material, the finer the
detail, as in metal, and the greater breadth
and depth as in terra cotta7.
prominence. These primary forms, in turn,

generate the intricate ornamental surface
patterns of abstract and foliate motifs rendered
in color arranged according to sequence,
combination, and repetition.9
Sullivan referenced many Gothic precedents
in the design of his buildings. With that
said, this was not a copying of styles and
recreating religious architecture, but instead
provided a language to integrate nature with
structural clarity and movement. It was this
essence of Gothic, that Sullivan considered
an American architecture devoid of historic
connotations. He would compare his tall
buildings to the vegetal origins of the Gothic
cathedrals as tree groves with vaults of
branches interlacing high above ground.10 As
these Gothic references translate to the banks,
we see the use of tracery as he enframes the
structure and windows. Medieval, battered
wall buttress are positioned on the side
exterior elevation of the Columbus bank.
The integration of nature into Sullivans

banks can be seen in the many sculptural,
polychromatic, foliate motifs. Sullivans
vines, leaves, tendrils, and pods are obsessed
with the notion of growth and germination.
However their forms are not an Art Nouveau
vision of sensuous uninhibited nature. These
forms are imprisoned in rigid geometrical
spaces writhing under confinement.12 The
patterns follow the basic geometric massings
and enframements, or as rudimentarily set
within the grid of the stained glass windows.
Additionally, they all express notions of
designing with an axis, although not always
linear. Any line, straight or curved, may be
considered an axis, and therefore a container
of energy and a directrix of power.13 His
recurrent, axial Y-scheme, Seed pod is
provided once again at the Owatonna bank
in the many stencils and great spans within
the bank, starting at the next to lowest band
with a roundish design, runs through curling
symmetrical leaves, through large petals to a
floriated form.14
With Sullivans new challenge, the threads
of his training, theoretical revelations, and
elements of initial buildings prevail in the
development of his banks. He reestablished
the role of the banking industry within the
community with a new image, typology, and
iconography. His building compositions
provided variations, utilizing his creative
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Detail view of the Grinnell Bank by Louis Sullivan

photography by Stacey Zwettler Keller
SULLIVAN'S BANKS 46
They serve a modern re-use by supporting

the structural steel I-beams that span the
ceiling, and frame the recessed arcades of
stained glass windows (Weingarden, The
Banks). Another Gothic reference is the rose
window at the Grinnell bank. It represents
the symbolic key to the banking industry,
and is used as a recurrent dominant theme
throughout the building. Also emulating
Gothic statuary, Sullivan included griffins on
the Grinnell bank, providing a progressivist
symbol, signifying the banks function of
guarding valuable possessions.11
SULLIVAN'S BANKS 47
process of spontaneity, intuition, and rational

solutions to practical problems. As left with
us from J.R. Wheeler, the president of the
Columbus bank, You know, he never referred
to this building as a bank. He always called it
his jewel box.15
NOTES:
1. de Wit, Wim, The Banks and the Image of Progressive Banking. Louis
Sullivan: The Function of Ornament, Chicago: Chicago Historical Society, 1986.
p. 159-197.
2. Rebori, A.N. An Architecture of Democracy. The Architectural Record,
May 1916, p. 436-465.
3. Weingarden, Lauren S., Louis H. Sullivan: The Banks, Cambridge: The MIT
Detail view of the Otwanna Bank by Louis Sullivan

Press, 1987.
4. See note 3 above.
5. Twombley, Robert, Louis Sullivans First National Bank Building (19191922), Manistique, Michigan. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians,
June 2001. p. 200-207.
6. Seen note 3 above.
7. Sprague, Paul, The Architectural Ornament of Louis Sullivan and His Chief
Draftsman, New Jersey: Princeton University, 1969
9. Weingarden, Lauren S., The Colors of Nature: Louis Sullivans Architecture
Polychromy and Nineteenth Century Color Theory. Winterthur Portfolio Winter
1985, pp. 243-260.
10. Menocal, Narcisco. Sullivans Banks: A Reappraisal. The Midwest in
American Architecture: Essays in Honor of Walter L. Creese, Chicago: University
of Illinois, 1991. p. 99-108.
Primary facade of the Otwanna Bank by Louis Sullivan

12. Westerbeck, Colin, Louis Sullivans Clay Gardens. Art Forum, 1987, p.
90-93.
13. Huxtable, Ada, L., Note, Together with Drawings for the Farmers and
Merchants Bank of Coulumbus, WI. A System of Architectural Ornament:
According with a Philosophy of Mans Powers by Louis H. Sullivan. New York:
The Eakins Press, 1967.
14. Turak, Theodore, French and English sources of Sullivans Ornament and
Doctrine. Prairie School Review Fourth Quarter 1974.
15. Szarkowski, John, The Idea of Louis Sullivan, Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press, 1956.
REFERENCES:
1. Hope, Henry, Louis Sullivans Architectural Ornament. Magazine of Art,
March 1947, p. 110-117.
2. Severns, Kenneth, Louis Sullivan Builds a Small-Town Bank. AIA Journal,
May 1976.
3. Van Zanten, David, Sullivans City: The Meaning of Ornament for Louis
Sullivan, New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2000.
Stacey Zwettler Keller, Assoc.

AIA
is a Preservation Architectural
Intern at Treanor Architects,
P.A., in Topeka, KS, working
on the renovation and
restoration of the Kansas Capitol Building.
She attained a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies in 2000, and a Masters of Architecture in 2006 from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. She was a major proponent
of the AIA 150 Topeka Riverfront program,
and is now serving as one of the AIA Kansas
Emerging Professionals Committee Chair and
the AIA Central States Regions Associate Director.
by Frank Barkow
REVOLUTIONS OF CHOICE 48
REVOLUTIONS OF CHOICE
Formation (Re)Formation: A Nomadic Garden, 11th Architecture Exhibition Venice 2008
We discovered as a Berlin-based practice that the European

competition system, while very rigorous and competent, is not
always the best site for experimentation. As a result, in recent years
we established an area of work within the practice that supports
experimental research as an autonomous but beneficial discipline
for the practice. In addition, we are less hierarchical than 15 years
ago. It is now more likely that a student-intern will bring in new
software know-how as more experienced staff. We also find ourselves
working intensively with fabricators, or structural engineers, or energy
engineers from the outset of a project.
The fabrication research evolves, grows, and is available to on-
FORWARD 109
Architectural practice has transformed. As Architects are becoming

research-based, our academic interests, practice, and internal
research weave together to shape the identity of our work. It is a
revolution of choice. In our office, rather than rely on the standard
building catalogue as a source for construction systems, we construct
our own expertise in fabrication techniques and technologies that
support our building projects. The establishment of an atlas of
fabrication forms an archive led by student-interns who inventory,
study, and learn the capabilities of emerging technologies the tools,
machines, and techniques then apply them to materials in order to
produce architectural prototypes independent from specific on-going
building projects.
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An Atlas of Fabrication, AA School of Architecture, London
photography by Sue Barr
The aspect of ornament or the decorative

in our work is an outcome rather than an
a-priori goal in recent work. Machines enable.
Design follows technology. Despite Adolf
Looss famous credo of ornament as crime,
representative of an ethical/ philosophical
dilemma, ornament disappeared in 20th
century architecture as a result of economic
barriers and the disappearance of a viable
culture of hand craftsmanship. We now
have available emerging technologies that
can reassume a finer level of detail not
We now can make digitally shaped formwork

for pouring concrete or plaster. We work
inclusively: digital tooling is equally legitimate
as working with low-tech handcrafted
systems where available. More important
is how an action can transform a material.
We work around the idea of action-verbs
where the formal outcome results in how
materials are transformed by tools. This is a
fundamentally different approach than using
software to produce forms and render it
materially.
seen since the 30s in America and Europe.

Emerging technologies include two and three
dimensional laser cutting of sheet metal and
tube sections. We can also weld and inflate
sheet metal or bend it into a multitude of
forms digitally. We cut sustainable glu-lam
engineered timber parametrically where
each joint and each piece can be unique and
contribute to complex structural forms. Digital
machining is indifferent/ modulation is over.
We search for an idea of an architectural

prototype that emerges from the control of a
technical system prefaced our unit work at
the Architectural Association in the late 90s.
What has changed significantly is that we are
newly empowered as architects. We are better
positioned than ever in selecting the materials
we use and finding new ways to configure and
locate them in our architecture. We embed
smart ways of working into our buildings that
trickle-down into everyday building. It is
a resourceful way of working where we can
react to a problem and evolve.
Ornamental Structure/ Ornamental Surface

Three recently completed buildings: the
gatehouse and cantina for the German
machine-tool company Trumpf in Stuttgart
and the AIA National Award winning Trutec
in Seoul Korea are examples of our research
work crossing over and driving building
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going building projects. It has also been

supported and given direction by architectural
exhibitions. Exhibitions have transformed from
gallery shows of architectural representations
including drawings and models to installation
scale exhibitions or demonstrations of our
architectural prototypes. Here the architectural
exhibition is not referring to an architecture
outside of the gallery so much as actually
producing an architectural event of its own. It
represents nothing other than its own material,
spatial, and experiential effect. The one-to-one
scale architectural prototype has become the
single most important instrument in our work
for gauging or determining an architectures
success aesthetically and performatively.
A prototype that is wind and rain tested is
also tested for its visual effect and economic
viability. This is a way for us to close the
historical gap between representation and a
building. The prototype does not represent an
architectural condition so much as it precisely
duplicates and forecasts its material, tectonic
characteristics, and performance. Recent
exhibitions such as our project Nomadic
Garden for the 2008 Venice Biennale,
Beyond Building, Arsenal show, Re-visiting
Ornament, Swiss Architectural Museum,
Basel, Atlas of Fabrication Architectural
Association, London, or The Pavilion,
German Architecture Museum, Frankfurt,
provide forums for our material research
to be presented in a more speculative and
provocative manner.
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Gatehouse, Ditzingen, Germany

photography by David Franck
Gatehouse, Ditzingen, Germany

photography by David Franck
Trutec Building
photography by Corinne Rose
fabrication. Our materials research allows us

to scale up or down, from a recent pavilion
project (in collaboration with Werner Sobek)
for the German Architectural Museum to
a customized a light structure for the
Hans Peter Jochum gallery in Berlin. Our
projects utilize scripting software to resolve
geometrical problems and digital fabrication
for structural and cladding systems.
Trumph Gatehouse and Cantina

The two Stuttgart projects employ structural
roof patterns that appear ornamental.
The cantilevering gatehouse roof consists
of triangulated webbing that changes
geometry and density in response to loading
requirements. An organic logic is legible as
a parametrically variable gradation from the
column points to the extent of the cantilever.
A decorative infill of gradated Plexiglas tubes
forms a sunscreen within a 20cm double
faade entirely constructed of glass. The
steel and glu-lam timber roof of the cantina
is organized as a honeycomb cell-structure
whose depth responds to structural loading.
The individual cells are designated for
The faceted, mirrored faade of the Korean

Trutec building acts as a liminal kaleidoscope
mediating between the private office and
showroom spaces of the interior and the
public exterior. Within the unpredictable
emerging master plan of the Seouls Digital
Media City the phenomenal effect of the
faade was a way for us to situate our building
in a context that was unknowable in its
entirety from the onset of the design process.
These surfaces are transformed by moving
pedestrians, cars, weather, and the adjacent
LED advertising in the night sky. It reflects,
refracts, and assimilates itself into an animated
urban context.
These techniques and capabilities are all
means for us to expand our knowledge where
we mediate imagination with the reality of
technology as it becomes available to us. We
feel this empowers us as architects where
we situate ourselves precisely at the point
where we have the best chance to predict
and control the buildings we make. It is an
incredibly fascinating and challenging time
to be an architect where the trajectories
of emerging technologies, materiality,
stainability, and imagination intersect.
Frank Barkow
studied architecture at
Montana State and Harvard.
He has been visiting professor
at the Harvard Graduate
School of Design and the University of Wisconsin, Milwauke. In 1993 Frank
Barkow and Regine Leibinger founded their
office in Berlin. Their focus on industrial architecture includes masterplanning and building
representational and functional buildings for
production, logistical and office spaces.
Trutec
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natural day lighting, artificial lighting through

deflectors, or as acoustical panels combining
performative characteristics with ornamental
effect.
COMPUTATIONAL DETAIL 53
COMPUTATIONAL DETAIL
by Stephen Lynch and Jonathan Taylor
The following projects are each discrete components of larger

buildings: a faade, a wall sculpture, and a stair. Like many projects
by Caliper Studio, they illustrate an interest in exploring a set of
fabrication techniques for functional and expressive potential.
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As architects continue to experiment with computational design

tools and simultaneously become more familiar with the technical
limitations of specific fabrication methods, the pace of changes in
the field is impressive. These new tools foster the ability to manage
greater levels of complexity in form, pattern, and part making.
In addition, designers can now better explore multiple options,
evaluating aesthetic and performance based criteria earlier in the
design process while significant layout decisions are still being
made. On a detail level, new technology allows for a level of craft
characterized by an intricacy in joinery and part articulation that
overcomes the limitations set by the high costs of skilled labor,
resulting in new developments in the language of detail as ornament.
Reflective Tiled Sculpture

photography by Caliper Studio
Metropolitan Cinema and Apartments photography by Caliper Studio
Because we conceive of our projects as a

system of similar parts, we analyze both
micro and macro scales at the same time.
We balance the overall programmatic and
aesthetic goals of the project simultaneously
with the development of the components
and joining methods. Each of these projects
utilized scripting tools for 3D modeling
software to establish parametric relationships
and enable the ability to loop through and
evaluate multiple solutions, configurations,
and patterns. In more complex applications
the use of search algorithms and performance
analysis were employed to achieve even
greater control and precision in the design
process.
Cassandra Cinema and Apartments

For the public face of a new independent
cinema in Brooklyn we developed a custom
zinc panel and glass lens faade that wraps
three new stories added to a former industrial
building. The faade design was driven by
the programmatic need to visually identify
the building as a cultural institution coupled
with the practical consideration that the
building also houses 9 residential apartments.
Rather than adding a traditional marquee, the
solution was to develop a patterned feature
on the faade itself using cast glass lenses and
low voltage LED lights. The rain screen panel
system allowed the LED lights and wiring to
run outside the membrane weather seal, yet
behind the metal skin ensuring that no light
from the faade was visible from inside the
apartments.
The pattern of circular lenses on the faade
had its origin in the dot templates used
by Roy Lichtenstein (the clients had a
close relationship with the artist and were
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With a controlled set of design criteria each

project allowed for a rigorous focus on the
development of an interconnected system of
parts that relate to each other and the whole
through a strict set of rules. As a result of
these relationships, a pliant overall geometry
was developed that dynamically responded to
the goals of the project.
This project originated as a sculpture

commission for an unused brick niche in the
rear yard of a SoHo loft. The wall, a remnant
from the buildings previous industrial use,
was a suitable location for an outdoor
sculpture that satisfied the clients desire for
a distinctive art piece that incorporated water
and light.
The conceptual core of the project was to
capture the expressive power of waters
rippling surface in folded metal. Using
this as inspiration, we began to explore the
disturbances created by manipulating the
corner points of a standard panel grid in both
plan and section.
To define the system we developed a set of
rules based on fabrication constraints that
resulted in a limited number of irregular
immediately attracted to the idea of using

dots as the organizational design element.)
The objective of the design was to present
an irregular pattern with an underlying
visual logic. This led to a process of working
with an undulating surface, cutting contour
lines, projecting those lines to the faade
surface and laying out circles along the lines.
Using Rhinoscript we designed a series of
automated operations to help us loop through
multiple alternatives, each one testing for
certain characteristics including: a greater
density over the theater entrance, a natural
tendency to flow around the windows,
and a rationalization of the wire lengths
required for each panel. The panel layout
was also designed using a custom script with
parametric relationships that allowed us to
proceed with fabrication drawing prior to
having final field dimensions. Our office
generated detail drawings for each panel,
which were laser cut and bent by an outside
vendor and sent back to our shop for final
assembly and installation.
Reflective Tiled Sculpture photography by Caliper Studio
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Metropolitan Cinema and Apartments photography by Caliper Studio
Reflective Tiled sculpture
The subtle torque created by the varying

corner heights presented a number of
challenges both computationally and
materially. Mockups were necessary to
evaluate panel thickness and a CNC laser
cut backer panel was designed to provide
anchoring, hidden panel connections and
resist the resultant spring of the torqued
panels. Mirrored stainless steel, chosen for its
natural resistance to the elements, created a
strong contrast to the weathered brick wall.
shaped brake-formed panels. We developed a

search algorithm that packs these panels into
a predetermined grid spacing 6 x 6 in this
instance within the boundary of the niche
opening.
The rule based system led to unexpected

patterns and symmetries which amplified the
dynamic visual properties of the mirrored
torqued surface, creating an unmistakable
allusion to water.
The Genetic Stair became the impetus for

testing the use of a genetic algorithm during
the design phase to evaluate and improve
the structural performance of a Manhattan
apartments feature stair. Conceived as a
freestanding truss with four straight runs and
three landings, the stair winds 270 degrees
supported only at its top and bottom. The
material palette includes a stainless steel
frame with translucent Corian treads and a
glass guardrail. The system of fabrication
chosen for the project involved laser
cutting holes in the tube truss chords and
plug welding the truss rods into the laser
cut holes thus providing a perfectly clean
joint. The precise hole layouts in the laser
cut tube served as self jigging elements,
enabling triangulated rods to line up with the
appropriate holes only when the tubes were
correctly positioned.
Reflective Tile Sculpture drawing by Nicholas Desbiens
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Genetic Stair
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Genetic Stair drawing by Nicholas Desbiens
Genetic Stair
photography by Ty Cole
Stephen Lynch, LEED AP

and Jonathan Taylor
founded the multi-disciplinary
design and fabrication business
Caliper Studio in 2003.
Caliper Studio has grown to
include a 7,000sf shop with six full time employees. Projects incorporate a diverse range
of scope, scale and complexity including custom rainscreen facades, panelized cladding
components, atria, stairs, sculpture and furniture. With a hands-on design sensibility, the
firm has developed a particular expertise in
detailing building components with the level
of sophistication increasing on each project.
FORWARD 109
While the structural performance of the stair

was a primary requirement, the placement of
the rods within the supporting truss became
an opportunity to express more directly the
multiple force directions passing through the
stair. As a result, the rod layout became the
focus of the genetic algorithm. The GA set up
a loop which generated rod configurations,
exported them to a finite element analysis
tool for frequency and deflection testing,
compared the results to other configurations,
then combined better performers and added
a randomness factor before starting the loop
again. The result was a random appearing
configuration of rods which satisfied the
structural requirements of the design by
selecting rod locations in direct correlation
with the force patterns. In practice, the
learning curve in establishing such a tool
in-house was substantial but proved to be
invaluable in demonstrating the potential of
iterative performance based testing during the
design process.
EVERYDAY INSPIRATION
Susana Solano Exhibition

photograph by Adri Goula
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by Eduardo Cadaval
EVERYDAY INSPIRATION 60
Susana Solano Exhibition at the ICO Foundation, Madrid, Spain
Ornament need not be limited to mere

decoration. When taken to its full potential,
ornament can abandon its embellishment
attributes, become architecture, and define
space. In the Susana Solano exhibit we
analyzed the ability of a material to change
viewers spatial experiences depending on
their approach and interaction with a wall.
The Susana Solano exhibit aims to create
intimate experiences within a larger, more
expansive exhibition room. A system of
delicate, translucent, white walls frame and

highlight the heavy, sturdy objects it holds
- a fragile envelope acts as a sacramental
body that receives and counterbalances
the sturdy display pieces. In addition to a
dialogue between the exhibit walls and the
display pieces, we desired a cross dialog
within pieces. The viewer could understand
throughout the exhibit that each art piece
is the result of a long process that may
conclude in several creations and that some
ideas or forms are referenced throughout the
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Susana Solano Exhibition

FORWARD 109
Susana Solano Exhibition Construction Process
drawings and photographs by Cadaval & Sola-Morales
As with many of our projects, we appropriated

references from popular culture and everyday
utensils rather than allude to extravagant,
high-tech objects. In this instance the paper
lamps from fairs and parades made of fragile
honeycomb paper inspired the design.
Like the lamps, the exhibition walls have a
volume built from air and inventiveness. We
searched the paper industry for an existing
material that would not only meet our
aesthetic goals of mimicking the qualities
exhibited by paper lanterns, but was also
ecologically friendly and economical. We
searched for a determinate texture made from
existing machinery that could be produced
industrially. Our research led to a materiality
discussion involving those in the door and
paper industry, researching paper thickness,
weight and transparency. We also considered
elements of efficiency such as standard
Eduardo Cadaval, RA and

Clara Sola-Morales, RA
Eduardo holds a BA from the
National University of Mexico
and a Master of Architecture
in Urban Design from Harvard University.
Currently he is an associate professor of
urbanism at Barcelonas School of Architecture ETSAB, UPC. Clara has a degree in
Architecture from the Escola Tecnica Superior
dArquitectura de Barcelona, ETSAB, and
holds a Master in Architecture from Harvard
University. She is currently an associate professor of architecture at Tarragonas School of
Architecture ETSAT, UPC. Eduardo and
Claras shared practice, Cadaval & Sola-Morales, was founded in New York City in 2003
and moved to Barcelona & Mexico City in
2005. The studio operates like a laboratory in
which research and development are important elements of the design process. The mandate of the firm is to create intelligent design
solutions at many different scales, from large
scale projects to small buildings, from objects
to city fractions.
dimensions, strength of the glue to hold the

honeycomb together, and the paper weight
and strength necessary to create a sandwich
panel made of layered honeycomb paper.
Initial tests were done with single layers
of paper, to test its internal structural and
material qualities over time. Afterwards, fullscale sandwich panels were executed to study
the interaction between layers and to test how
this solution would facilitate and optimize
construction. Ultimately our research led
to the creation of an exhibit that considers
ornament beyond decoration through the
consideration of intimacy, scale, transparency
and materiality we derived a solution that
evolves industrially produced objects beyond
efficiency and constructability into the poetics
of space.
FORWARD 109
artists development. As a result, the walls

materiality was crucial. It had to provide a
double reading: a powerful envelope that also
provides a subtle transparency and allows
multiple readings of the exhibit.
Intimacy and scale were important features
for the envelope construction. The delicate
walls are created from the layering of a
standard prefab honeycomb paper used to
structure standard doors; all the layers are
embedded within two of those same standard
doors (top and bottom). The doors behave
as the main structure one is attached to the
ceiling and the second rests on the floor. The
papers ornamental nature was intrinsic to
our material studies. We were interested in a
material that allowed for a number of readings
beyond a simple envelope. We created a
thick wall comprised of several layers of
recycled standard honeycomb paper. When
viewed perpendicular to the wall, the layers
create a moir effect that offered transparency
to the spaces within. A more tangential view
would reveal a solid texture that defined the
limits of a constructed space and framed the
solid art pieces.
DEEP SURFACE
photography by Bennie Chan
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by Brock DeSmit and David Cheung
DEEP SURFACE 64
Although Belzberg Architects regularly
employs software and similar modeling
techniques from project to project, it is
difficult to study each projects formal
output in sequential order to uncover a
logical evolution. The firm does not engage
in a singular academic pursuit, we simply
understand space to be defined by surfaces
which posess the potential for significance
beyond spatial confinement and material
selection. F.O.A. conveys in Phylogenesis
that the character of a surfaces physical
construct can be expressed in a multitude
of ways.1 What Belzberg Architects often
confronts with built work is the relationship
between a surfaces intrinsic qualities and
a host of extrinsic factors including the
clients perception. While it is the firms
desire to innovate, communicating the

affective qualities of unfamiliar surface
ornamentation remains difficult as clients
frequently struggle to comprehend the
purpose of the unconventional visuals
presented to them. In an effort to connect
to the concepts, clients and occupants often
delve into their own cultural backgrounds to
extract symbolism or metaphor which may
alleviate their anxiety. Jeff Kipnis writes,
Social, cultural or intellectual ambitions, if
any, are the prerogative of the client.2 For the
three projects described herein, there exists
a meaningful, yet ambiguous, reciprocity
between culture (of use, location and
occupants) and the artistic pursuit of surface
ornament.
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Ahmanson Founders Room

photography by Benny Chan
DEEP SURFACE 65
The Ahmanson Founders Room is an exclusive
lounge space for supporters of the Music
Center in downtown Los Angeles. We desired
to instill a feeling of opulence through the
use of surface ornament and exploit the
richness of material. Additionally, we had
to develop a strategy to design the bounding
surfaces without the benefit of natural light.
This encouraged us to integrate a lighting
strategy within the 3-dimensional textures of
the walls and ceiling. The wall panels were
perforated with holes of varying diameters
and back-lit. This allowed the sinuous pattern
of the ceiling to be extended to the vertical
wall surface. The back-lit panels also provide
illumination of the ceiling panels and allow
for a variegated, visual experience as the light
and texture interplay; the surfaces portray
physical and visual depth.
Numerous meetings with the Founders
revealed their trepidation to dive into a
contemporary design. To allay their fears

without sacrificing the design concept, the
presentation of the computer-driven design
for the ceiling and walls focused on the
sensations and warmth of the space rather
than the technical aspects of generating the
design. While we envisioned the smooth
undulations carved into the surfaces as
promotion of a unique brand to the space and
hoped the Founders would connect with the
design on that level, many relied on familiar
metaphors likening the textures to drapes
and sound waves. It was at this moment,
when our work masqueraded as a figural
representation, that we were confronted
with the difficult task of mediating our own
rigorous research with our clients desire to
relate the design to a tangible reference.
Interestingly, four years earlier the same
metaphore arose. During our intial foray into
surface ornamentation at the Patina Restaurant
at Walt Disney Concert Hall we presented
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Drapes & Waves
Ceiling rendering for the Ahmanson Founders Room

drawing by Belzberg Architects
DEEP SURFACE 66
our design for CNC-routed wood panels as

curtains which were absent within the
concert halls unique theater-in-the-round
design. At that time, the firm was eager to
employ digital fabrication techniques and the
use of metaphor was envisioned as the selling
point to enable us to do so. Having had the
opportunity to build several more challenging
and unique surfaces since then, our sentiment
toward metaphor has changed substantially.
The surface ornament at Patina Restaurant and
the Ahmanson Founders Room is powerful
not because of the back story, but because it
opens a new way of seeing and using material
to the occupants.
Theres something about the texture

of elephant skin
Entrance lobby for The Laboratory of Art + Ideas (The Lab)
instance, the translation of research into a

product of personal significance from the
clients perspective occurred fluidly for one
principle reasonthe mission statement of
The Lab, to embrace difference and foster
curiosity was identical to the intent of the
design. It may be happenstance alone that the
director of The Lab saw something fascinating
about greeting patrons with the texture of
elephant skin on their walls, however, it was
the culture of the institution that promoted
the open-ended interpretation. In this project,
a bizarre and seemingly out of place object
required nothing more than to be just so.
With the Ahmanson Founders Room, a figural
representation was associated with the surface
ornament that never seemed to escape the
process. Minor changes occurred throughout
design development and construction, yet
there were limitations on those changes once
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The Laboratory of Art + Ideas at Belmar

(The Lab) is an institution established
within a development on the outskirts of
Denver, Colorado. The streets are lined
with commercial properties including an
overwhelming majority of retail spaces
displaying their brands, logos and products.
It is a hyper-visual environment which
desensitizes passersby and weakens the
effectiveness of individual graphic campaigns.
C+ (Above Average) Products, the internal
marketing group established to compliment
the attitude of The Lab, was charged with
the the task of providing witty graphics and
humorous advertising ploys. The architecture
needed to reinforce this identity without
drowning in the pictorial deluge from its
neighbors. We generated a rendering of a
simple, curvaceous surface which saturated
the lobby with an unusual display of light
and shadows. To contrast the glaring graphic
texture of neighboring retailers, the fiberglass
wall integrates a physical aggregation of
ripples and bumps to incite the curiosity of
passersby and invites patrons to touch and
engage. These textures were the product of
research into the integration of varying scales
of ornament within a single surface. In this
Articulated ceiling in the Conga Room at L.A. Live

the notion of drapes and sound waves were

established by the client. The Lab, conversely,
was free of such constraints and the design
was able to work outside the confines of a
realist interpretation. This facilitated and
ensured a consistency from design intent
through client interpretation.
Dance Steps & Flower Petals

For over a decade, the Conga room has been
a Los Angeles cultural landmark as LAs center
for Salsa and Rumba. The original location
closed in 2006 with the goal of opening a new
venue in an existing building within the new
L.A. Live complex in Downtown, Los Angeles.
The new home would contain a live music
and dance space comprising a multitude of
programs each requiring that it be separate
from the others. As a result, the risk was
ever present that the final design could lack
The Conga Room, as a case study for

this article, diverges from the previous
examples, as the ornamentation of surfaces
was mandated by the client to be a direct
interpretation of Latin dance culture. In
this scenario, a fine line existed between
integrating ornament and stereotyping a
culture. We had originally envisioned the
ceiling as a tessellated surface constructed
as an assemblage of triangular panels.
The agility of a tessellated assembly was
desirable because of the varying and complex
infrastructure it would span throughout
the space. Additionally, the presentation
of a diagram of the classic Cuban Rumba
dance stepa coupled triangle progression,
dancing throughout the spacefulfilled
the clients need for a cultural signifier.
However, as the design developed further,
the purpose of the metaphor dissolved.
Each panel became known as a Petal while
groupings of six Petals constituted a Flower.
The Flowers, once aggregated, defined
an undulating surface that waned and
blossomed, delineating each of the unique
environments within the club. As an event
attractor, the ceiling panels converged into a
20-foot tall, glowing Tornado that penetrated
the dance floor, inviting and guiding patrons
up to the activities in the club. Ultimately,
the language used to refer to the design
became superfluous. Ornament, as a device
for communication, was rendered ineffective
when diluted with comparative references.
Space is defined by surfaces, and ornamenting
those surfaces adds sensorial depth to
the experience of the space it defines.
This implies that ornament is a means of
DEEP SURFACE 67
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cohesiveness. The only consistent element

was the ceiling plane, which necessitated
mitigation of existing building infrastructure
and the complex infrastructure associated
with a live music venue (ie. multiple lighting/
audio-visual systems, acoustical, mechanical,
and fire/life safety systems).
DEEP SURFACE 68
Club entrance with Tornado in background in the Conga Room at L.A. Live
Tornado seen from the ground floor in the Conga Room at L.A. Live
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DEEP SURFACE 69
Reflected ceiling plan for the Conga Room at L.A. Live
drawings by Belzberg Architects
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Fabrication diagrams for the Conga Room at L.A. Live

drawings by Belzberg Architects
Brock DeSmit and

David Cheung
Belzberg Architects is a group
of young designers guided
by the experience and
curiosity of Hagy Belzberg. The staff is energetic with an eclectic background of combined design experiences. The firm believes
that their diverse educational backgrounds
and apprehension toward defining a routine
working methodology contributes to the
uniqueness of each project and the firms ability to handle the demands of any given project
typology. Brock DeSmit and David Cheung
have both worked on numerous projects with
Hagy Belzberg for over five years following
their studies at SCI-Arc and the University of
Pennsylvania respectively.
DEEP SURFACE 70
communicating affect provided by deep

surfaces and should be differentiated from
the more common tendency to attempt to
understand ornament on its own. Introducing
unfamiliar visual detail and texture can cause
a rift in the traditional means of evaluating
space. For instance, a wall is drawn as a
line, or series of lines, in plan view with the
innermost line representing the extremity of
a space. When we ornament a surface, it
requires a deeper understanding to explain
its visual and spatial impact. This invites
interpretation and provokes wonderment
the ideal scenario for the architect as artist.
On the other hand, for the architect as
commissioned service professional, presenting
architecture as an indefinite experience
can often be inadequate and is difficult to
justify through mere verbiage. Impositions
of figural reference on ornament while often
unintentionally cursory associations, are
unavoidable. While we do not choose to
actively participate in the figurative reference
of our work, we have taken the attitude
that those supplementary readings are fed
back into the deepening of the surface and
ultimately consider them part of its success.
NOTES:
1 Foreign Office Architects, Phylogenesis: foas ark, (Actar, 2004)
2 Jeff Kipnis. About Communication,What we got need is failure to
FORWARD 109
communicate!!Quaderns Issue 245 (April 2005), 99
FALL
ORNAMENT
FORWARD 209

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Fall 2009

The Architecture and Design Journal of the National Associates Committee

The Architecture and Design Journal of the National Associates Committee

NATIONAL ASSOCIATES COMMITTEE MISSION

OUT OF THE LAB AND INTO THE JUNGLE

THE SEMANTIC METAL SURFACE

The Architecture and Design Journal of the National Associates Committee

Architects are increasingly faced with shrinking influence, often only

be considered superficial and superfluous. Instead, this outermost layer,

Christina A. Noble, AIA, LEED AP

Architectural facades assume life when they

Gantenbein Vinyard Facade

The Gantenbein Vineyard was already under

Gantenbein Vinyard Facade

Gantenbein Vineyard Facade

Gantenbein Vinyard Facade

sunlight for the processing of grapes behind.

Gantenbein Vinyard Facade photography by Ralph Feiner

Gantenbein Vinyard photography by Ralph Feiner

The design for the private house reinterprets

angle, the slats perceptually collapse into a

Private House, Riedikon, Switzerland

elliptic lens that opens to focused views

Studies revealed how densities of pattern produce different resolution of feathering

Although an accomplished air force pilot, Joe Kittinger was here, no

could occur. The treacheries of hi-altitude

Figure 2: How to break whats built; How to build a break

Architecture, like space exploration, makes

This is the territory of Charles and Ray Eames

Mockups occupy a vital territory which ties

Mockups verify the vitality of an image. To

demonstrate the responsiveness in what they

about the world in general and more about

Figure 4: Densities of pattern produce different resolution of feathering

scuring the structural role of the frame. The

makes it take this position and subsequently

Figure 6: Scale finding mockup, 1/8 inch birch plywood

is a visiting Lecturer at the

1 mock. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2009.

OUT OF THE LAB AND INTO THE JUNGLE 21

OUT OF THE LAB AND INTO THE JUNGLE

Taipei Performing Arts Center drawing by Emergent

The Problem with Swarm Architecture

The problem is that scientific rationale in

OUT OF THE LAB AND INTO THE JUNGLE 22

not arise spontaneously based on simple rules,

Into the Jungle

conscious effort of the neo avante-guarde to

it is affect first, process second. This is not

Working this way with scripting produces

OUT OF THE LAB AND INTO THE JUNGLE 23

Dragonfly Parametric Plan

Our office has found scripting to be most

itself; it is a means to an end. A script can

OUT OF THE LAB AND INTO THE JUNGLE 24

Dragonfly, done in collaboration with Buro

patterning which could deal with extreme

OUT OF THE LAB AND INTO THE JUNGLE 25

Dragonfly engineering drawings by Emergent

OUT OF THE LAB AND INTO THE JUNGLE 26

Gridshell structures, prevalent in the 1960s,

tuning which would be impossible with

Flower Street Bioreactor

A solar array, used to collect energy during the