Helix-House 4: Sustainability

Building is responsible for about 8% of the CO2 emissions in the world, even growing, if fossiles burning is reduced by the rise of renewables. The making of cement produces CO² by the reduction of limestone and the heating to initiate the reduction. If  fossile fuels for heating are replaced by green H² , still the CO² from the reduction remains. In the best case this is clean enough to be used by other chemical processes. So we should get rid of the mass use of caementum which enabled for 2000 years wonderful architecture from the dome of the Pantheon to the Villa Savoye or even Ronchamps from Le Corbusier. 

Going back to the elder, naturally growing materials of as wood and materials made from it, is not necessarily a continuation of the architecture with concrete as dominant material. We should use the opportunity to reinvent as much as possible an architecture of wood  and wood composite materials, as https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holzbau indicates. A specific challenge for wood seems to bee the construction of high buildings as https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HoHo_Wien and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mj%C3%B8st%C3%A5rnet  Mjostarnet indicate. They demonstrate the technology of wood-concrete or wood alone to build high commercal buildings, but no new architecture. Another example of similiar, unspecific, hidden use of wood as material are the widespread wood-framed  private homes in North Amarica. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_material#Wood_and_timber . These are not specific buildings representing specific wood technology as for example, the historic Fachwerkhäuser in Europe. As "beton brut" we should be in search of "wood brut". This was one of the main ideas in my first helix-house projekt "Museum", hommage a Frank Lloyd Wright Guggenheim New York.

Coming back to my present helix-house I am convinced, that this an useful idea for a specific wood building. And I am convinced, that the german and austrian community for Holzbau will create with ideas like this a new "School for Holzbau" with worldwide influence. In the tradition of the Athens Charta, to solve the living requirements with big Unitees d'habitation, I could envision, that big wooden buildings could contribute a lot to the solution of sustainable living in the rising Megacities of Africa.

Digitalhaus statt Bauhaus-Neuaufguss

Es ist ein immer wieder geträumter Traum: ein neues Bauhaus, ein Neuaufguss, um den Erfolg der Ikone zu wiederholen.

Wir brauchen das nicht.

Was wir brauchen ist kein Bau-, sondern ein Digitalhaus. Ich habe nach einigen Ansätzen dazu vor zwei Tagen gewittert: das Bauhaus hatte Materialien wie Stein, Holz... Gewebe als innersten Ring in seinem Programm. Ziel im Zentrum: Bau. Beim Digitalhaus könnten Hardware, Software, Communication, Human Interface und Digital Economics an ihrer Stelle stehen. Ziel im Zentrum: Applikation.

Die didaktischen Bereiche des Programms beim Digitalhaus würden sich an der best practice mit Lehre und Labor der Welt orientieren. Entscheidend ist das Ziel: Applikation. Das müssen Dinge sein, die in Deutschland und der EU für den Weltmarkt heute gebraucht werden oder für die morgen ein Markt zu erwarten ist. Als wichtiges Feld führe ich beispielhaft das Smart Car an. Dazu gehört alles vom Betrieb und der Bedienung des Vehikels über Unerlässliches wie Navigation und Kommunikation bis hin zur Unterhaltung. Einen ersten Wurf dazu zeigt die Avantgarde Tesla, dem VW und andere mit eigenem (?) Profil folgen werden.

Ein weiteres wichtiges Feld der Applikation wird die Kommunikation sein, die in diesem Monaten durch die Pandemie einen starken Impuls bekommen hat: Telekooperation, Konferenzen, die mit künstlicher Intelligenz wir jenseits von Zoom eine virtuelle, dynamische Gruppe mit wechselnden Gesprächspartnern bieten.

Wie kann das Digitalhaus entstehen? Nach dem historischen Vorbild Bauhaus braucht es einen Mann oder eine Frau, welche die Rolle des Gropius einnimmt mit den vielen Facetten seiner Persönlichkeit, vorndran Vision und Charisma. Diese Persönlichkeit wird einen Mäzen finden, wie die Stadt Weimar im Aufbruch oder Dessau im Ausbau. Sie wird die Klippen, welche die HfG Ulm scheitern ließen, umschiffen.

Wie sehr ich das Deutschland und der EU wünsche!

 

Helix-House: 3.Design Principles

The basic idea of the design principle used for the helix-house relies on the application of a computer code for graphics to develop the main construction of the building.This may be considered as a fundamental change versus the square and cube-based conventional design. Therefore the design based on computer graphics and coding with mathematical functions seem to be more complicated and abstract. It is indeed loaded with coding, debugging and running the computer graphics program compared to the drawing of rectangels on paper or by the aid of a computer. However the interactive coding, drawing and evaluating the graphic result opens your mind to a higer level creativity. That is the point, you increase your creativity by coding. Your creativity has two levels, the code level and the graphic output level. I admit, you need some training to get satisfiying results. I personally developped this creative method since decades first as computer art, later named digital art and refined to my purpose as Codism or Codismus, described it in other posts in Steinblog. The method of Codism is with the facilities of trial and error beyond the drawing of the main construction of the building a mighty creative tool from the footprint of the building to details of the construction. 

To apply the principle of Codism to the design of a Helix-House we use harmonic functions as the Sine and Cosine function in the graphics program. We demonstrate this by the minimalistic program in a Basic language for Windows MS SmallBasic shown below.

This is the final Graphic output achieved by a video sequence by the code shown, published under htttp://smallbasic.com/program/RRK765 

As the graphics show only the helix building we continue drawing outside and inside:

The code is published http://smallbasic.com/program/PLC074 . To get an impression of  the power of this method, a hands on experience is required. As first step an installation of smallbasic on MS Windows may be used, implementing the codes 

To design a building, the steps coding and drawing are iterated to find the result required. It uses the ideas of Codismus I posted in my Steinblog. This is a fundamentally new approach or recipe in architecture beyond the common practice of square and cube basied design or imagination as, homage to Frank Lloyd Wright, the Guggenheim museum. It could be classified as a succesfull inspiration by nature, a snail house. Onother approach, e.g. used by Antonio Gaudi for the Sagrada Familia cathedral , is the use of mathematical models as catenaries.

To demonstrate the power of Codism as creative tool we apply it to find more interesting  footprints for a helix-house than the circle in our first example. 

In this study we modify the radius ra of the outside of the helix-house by a form factor "form" in steps from 0 to 2, where 0 is the circle use in our first example. The frequency of our harmonic function for modification is called multiple. We choose Sin^2 for the harmonic function and a multiple of 1. The resulting drawing shows how the circle is streched to the left and right. If we would use a multiple of 1.5 we would get a threefold increase of the radius to a three-leaf clover footprint.

To demonstrate the result we draw a helix-house with the widest form 2 as above, based on the following code:

This is the helix house with the three-leaf clover footprint, achieved by using multiple=1.5 only.

This closes the chapter on the design principles of the helix-house scheme in short.

Codismus Anhang 4

Neue Gedanken zum Wesen des Codismus, nach einem Besuch im Albertinum bei den Glasplatten des Gerhard Richter: Neun Stehende Scheiben.

Ja, deren Wirkung könnte man auch codieren, und dies könnte als ein ganz neuer Aspekt des Codismus interpretiert werden: der Codismus ist ein Softwarerizing einer in Hardware ausgeführten beziehungsweise ausführbaren Idee, die eine der Software eigene Erweiterung dieser Idee erlaubt. Dies ist eine ganz neue, generalisierte Sicht des Codismus. Softwareized Art. SWrized Art.

Zurück zu den Neun Stehenden Scheiben: die haben zunächst und zuerst eine mechanische Wucht von musealen Ausmaßen und mechanischen Komponenten. Dann laden sie den Betrachter ein, ihre optische Wirkung zu erkunden, ineinander verschobene Spiegelbilder des Betrachters, der mit seinem binokularen Sehen in verschiedene Tiefen fokussieren kann. Dies ist der Punkt, an dem die SWrized Art ansetzt; ein Beispiel: ein riesiger Flachbildschirm oder eine Projektion fängt den Passanten und seine Aufmerksamkeit, der einmal an einem Punkt aufgenommen, in wechselnden Versionen. Lässt den Passanten ein, dies nochmals mit anderen Posen zu wiederholen. statisch oder dynamisch.

Work in Progress.

Helix-House: 2. Conditions

 To solve a task, you check the requirements. Looking back to the history of the Chart of Athens, we realise it is more valuable to regard the trends than to list actual tasks. We are living in a rapidly changing world: Digitalisation, Clima Crisis, Covid-19, just to name some recent fundamental experiences. Therefore, trends instead of requiremnts is my first conclusion for my conditions for the Helix-House. Panta rei.

Concerning the construction of an expensive builiding the term Life-Time -Cycle-Cost became a dominant ranking. Even if we don't intend it, we should be able to give back nature what we got. We must be prepared, to give back our playground, renaturalize it. Settle elsewhere.

The Helix-House is a construction utilizing technology. Keeping in mind one of the most impressive changes in the last decades by the Smartphone for Anything, not only communication, we must acknowledge its origine of the trial&error-principle of his pioneer Steve Jobs who had experienced more errors in his works than winners. We must try much more experiments in building, the Helix-House is just one example. Get rid of the to big burden of rules, overvome the small-square thinking.

Back to the Charta of Athens, we find some trials for updates or claims for updates, the Leipzig-Charta https://www.bmi.bund.de/DE/themen/bauen-wohnen/stadt-wohnen/stadtentwicklung/leipzig-charta/leipzig-charta-artikel.html is a recent one, compiled from several hundred contributions for the EU under the preassure of having 75% of its population living in cities. Summarizing the core findings, first of all, the charta aims at an european solution, including a renaissance and revitalisation of the existing cities. This reminds, by the way, that quite different approaches are required in specific for the globally fast growing megacities https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megacity. Even each of the megacities closest to Europe in equatorial Africa and Egypt need specific means. The next finding in the Leipzig-Charta concerns the clima crisis requiring a bundle of different measures from cities. Involvement of the citicen is required more than ever as social concience and movement, fed by social media, plays a rapidly growing role. This is in strong interaction with governance required for cities. And, last not least, it must be agreable to live in the cities which means much more than a few beautiful cites and buildings and includes communication by walking, bicycle and public transportation as main components.

Let us use this picture of four chipboard srews with their helix structure on a table of old wood as a symbol in this chapter on the general conditions and framework from nature to technology for the Helix-House. 

Helix-House: Introduction

The intention of this essay Helix-House is simple to deliver a new proposal for a huge appartment house. Since the first Charte d'Athene in 1933 by  Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM) huge appartment houses have been the key components for future urban living. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens_Charter

"CIAM demanded that housing districts should occupy the best sites, and a minimum amount of solar exposure should be required in all dwellings. For hygienic reasons, buildings should not be built along transportation routes, and modern techniques should be used to construct high apartment building spaces widely apart, to free the soil for large green parks.

-Mumford, 2000, The CIAM Discourse on Urbanism, 1928-1960, The MIT Press, p85"

Le Corbusier , https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Corbusier , probably the main writer and promotor of the Athens Charter, got his first chance to construct such an apartment building after the second world war, more than a decade later. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit%C3%A9_d%27habitation, the Unité d'habitation. It was the break through of Le Corbusier and gave him the oportunity to replicate his idea several times. the following pictures from Wikipedia show the builing on pilars and an internal passage.

Le Corbusier's utopian city living design was repeated in four more buildings with this name and a very similar design:

• Unité d'Habitation of Nantes-Rezé in 1955,
• Unité d'Habitation of Berlin in 1957,
• Unité d'Habitation of Briey [fr] in 1963,
• Unité d'Habitation of Firminy-Vert [fr] in 1965.

All of them were oriented with the building's long axis running north–south, so the units face east-and-west.

The whole concept was very rigid, starting from the main building material, rought-cast concrete béton brut , massive due to lack of enforcing steel in the after-war market. " The building contained 337 duplex apartment modules to house a total of 1,600 people. Each module was three stories high, and contained two apartments, combined so each had two levels (see diagram above). The modules ran from one side of the building to the other, and each apartment had a small terrace at each end. They were ingeniously fitted together like pieces of a Chinese puzzle, with a corridor slotted through the space between the two apartments in each module. Residents had a choice of twenty-three different configurations for the units. Le Corbusier designed furniture, carpets and lamps to go with the building, all purely functional; the only decoration was a choice of interior colors that Le Corbusier gave to residents." 

In 1966 Gustav Hassenpflug  https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Hassenpflug and Paulhans Peters published a critical review of the apartment hous architecture after the war: Neue Wohnhochhäuser (new apartment builings) in three types of construction: Scheibe, Punkt and Hügel ( cuboid, tower and terrace), proposing to overcome the limits of the cuboid, favorized by le Corbusier.

The ideas of the Athens Charter have been developped nearly one century ago with oher premises. There was no idea of the coming Climate Crisis caused by the Greenhouse Gases and CO². The global communication, economy and politics have been quite different. Therefore I take the challenge to develop a kind of complementary, contempuary concept for a huge apartment builing by the Helix-House.

Work in progress.

Zum Wieder-Erfinden der darstellenden Kunst durch Digitalisierung und Vernetzung

"Wie sich die Coronakrise in Berlin auf freie Künstler auswirkt, schildert Kevin Hanschke in der FAZ unter anderem am Beispiel der Künstlerin Heidi Sill: "Sie lebt momentan von einem befristeten Stipendium im Rahmen einer Residency der Kulturstiftung Schloss Wiepersdorf. Dies sei ein großes Glück, sagt Sill, denn ihr sind durch den Lockdown viele Aufträge weggebrochen. Während sie in den letzten Jahren im Durchschnitt an fünfzehn Ausstellungen teilgenommen hat, konnten ihre Arbeiten in diesem Jahr nur bei einer Schau gezeigt werden. Nicht nur das Wegbrechen des Marktes bereite ihr Sorgen, sondern auch der Wegfall jeglicher Vernetzungsmöglichkeiten in der Kunstwelt."

Der allerletzte Satz in dem Ausschnitt aus dem, sorry, langen Link

https://www.perlentaucher.de/9punkt/2020-06-16.html?nle_id=9125 

hat mich elektrisiert:

Covid19 stellt bloß, wie weit die Künste und die darstellende Kunst vom Potential, geschweige denn einem sich Wieder-Erfinden in der digitalen Welt entfernt sind. Sicher, deren Wirtschaft beruht auf dem Handel von bemalter Leinwand und ähnlichem. Netflix hat der Kinematografie eine neue Plattform erfunden. Wird es eine Tochter von Amazon oder Google bei der bildenden Kunst schaffen? Ich fürchte, wir haben keine Chance, die darniederliegenden Galeristen irgendwie zu bewegen oder gar zu beleben.