Parametric
architecture, and large budgets on certain projects, have allowed a
total freedom for architects when it comes to designing roofs, we are
not anymore subject to the « original roof » like the one
Laugier describes, or the terasse roof modernists widespread the use
of. The complex structure resonate with the primitive hut, begging to
ask the question, can we even talk of a roof ?
 |
| Laugier's hut has been squished by the Advanced hut.. |
In
2010 Jean Nouvel presents the Qatar Museum, the metaphor of stones
that can be found in the desert, is of course clear. However as much
as the metaphor is clear, the structure is much less, the roof and
wall are a common entity, the openings result from the intersection
of these elements, and the structure emerges from the ground.
This
is a prime example of an « advanced hut ». The four
elements Alberti, Semper established seem to have all disappeared in
what may well be a formal strategy. Structurally the bubirilding is
also hard to grasp, we can't really understand it, as in the stone,
the placing of architectonic elements seems hazardous, and do note
denote the structural reality a construction site photo shows us, in
a caveat the building will not behave like the stone, because of
redundancy.
 |
| Qatar National Museum - Jean Nouvel |
Another
advanced hut we'll take into consideration is the Beijing's Bird
Nest. The metaphor is as powerful as the one Nouvel uses. But can we
say the same thing as for Nouvel ? The answer is yes, but in a
different manner.
Birds
are the ultimate nest-builders. Each different species has its own
unique nest-building techniques and constructs these structures
without ever getting confused. For every type of nest, finding the
right building materials is essential. Birds can spend a whole day in
their quest for the building materials their structure needs. Their
beaks and talons are designed for carrying and arranging the
materials they gather. The male bird chooses the location of the
nest, and the female builds it.
They
are formed by accumulation, these are extremly vernacular structures,
most of the nest is not structural, but parts serve for protection of
the nest in itself. Such a form has evolved, it is not an element of
the nature, that people like Blossfeldt photographed, but posses an
evolution as strong and interesting as the plants he photographed.
As
for the building in Beijing it respects these principles, There are 3
parts, primary structural parts, secondary and tertiary more formal
parts, parts that are here as the « protection » of this
nest. The building as a whole has two structures, one that is the
« nest » in itself, an homogenous structure functionning
like a real nest where the wall becomes the roof inside and outside,
and the other one, the stadium it protects, and cherishes.
These
two buildings show two positions Advanced huts have, what makes them
advanced, is also what makes them extremely complicated to grasp at a
glance.
If we
put aside the purely formal aspect of these huts, what else could
they offer us ? If I chose these two buildings it is specially
because of the metaphors they have with natural elements, in the
sense that they don't reference on elements by humans.
A
third building will enter the ring. The Oslo Opera, not so much form
follows form, but more form follows context, a building we may well
call la « landform building » it epitomizes the metaphor
of the iceberg, docked in the Oslo bay, that may or may not melt (See
Eliassen « Icewatch »), it is indeed less complex
structurally than Nouvel or H&DM, the roof becomes the 5th
facade. A space to see and be seen, a facade you can climb up for
rewarding views.
To
end this first reflection on advanced huts, yes technology has given
extreme freedom, but we surely ought to use this freedom to create
truly three-dimensionnal buildings that offer much more than their
daring forms.
And
are these buildings given our current economical era, and urge for
sustainability truly what we neeed, in a Darwinian manner, will they
survive ? Yes they will
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