Art of Many and the Right to Space

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This is the exhibition that was the Danish contribution to the Venice Biennale of Architecture last year. The main section is an extensive display of architectural models from major architects and design partnerships in the country and the aim is to illustrate the importance of high-quality architecture in Denmark and, in a broader sense, the contribution of architecture to the community as a whole.

There is an important audio visual show by Jan Gehl about the work of their planning office in Copenhagen.

at the Danish Architecture Centre in Copenhagen until 1 October 2017

 

Moving Materials at the Danish Architecture Centre

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An exhibition that explores the work of the Japanese architect Hiroshi Sambuichi

... an architecture that attempts to be in balance with nature and with the landscape in which the buildings are set. It requires extensive study, sometimes over a number of years, of the passage of the sun and an awareness of how natural light across the site changes through the day but there is also a deep empathy for the climate of a specific location so the effect of wind, rain and mist across the land at different points of time or season. It is those elements of climate that are the Moving Materials.

That is not to suggest that the architecture is natural or organic … it is geometric and solid and makes use of contemporary building materials and modern engineering but then architecture does not have to be in wood or look roughly hand made or be soft and rounded to be in balance. That is an important lesson to appreciate.

The exhibition has models of the completed buildings; photographs of the buildings and their wider setting, at different times and seasons and many from above; large projected videos and a fascinating series of models with wind tunnels to demonstrate the extensive experiments undertaken to see how any one form will respond to the wind, mist and driven rain across the site. It is an approach that focuses not just on sustainability but also on reducing the dependence of a new building on modern technology so, for instance, using the natural flow of air across a site for control of the temperature and fresh air within a building.

Hiroshi Sambuichi is not just an architect with his studio in Hiroshima but also has taught in Copenhagen and, as with so many other examples seen through this year long festival to mark the links between Japan and Denmark, it is fascinating to see where, in so many ways, the aesthetics of the two countries, in terms of their design and their buildings, have evolved independently but are so close … the strong influence of the sea, the nature of the light at a northern latitude, the focus on natural materials and natural colours for so much of the best design and a very careful nurturing of well-established craftsmanship … and that makes the marked differences more important and more revealing. Each country can show to the other new approaches and new ways of looking in a new way and more critical way at their own architecture and design.

 

the exhibition continues at the Danish Architecture Centre in Copenhagen until 25 June 2017 

 

WORKS + WORDS

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At KADK on Danneskiod-Sasøes Allé in Copenhagen … an exhibition to show a wide variety of recent experiments and research projects in architecture from architects and teachers from the Royal Academy itself and from the School of Architecture in Aarhus and the School of Architecture and Design in Oslo. 

This is about research into how we can design better buildings now and in the future: “the artistic experiment is … an important cornerstone of KADK's architectural and design education and is a central part of KADK's community commitment as an educational institution. “

This is the first in what will be a biennial event and continues at KADK until 5 May 2017

just to quote ....

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This is an important and an angry statement by Arne Jacobsen and it suggests that by the 1930s he had become frustrated with the growing popularity for what he appears to see as a diluted and superficial approach to functionalism in architecture and the design of interiors . He is concerned, that Funkis is more concerned with style and fashion than rational architecture and did not reflect his own interest in the radical exploitation of new materials and new methods of construction.

Arne Jacobsen Approach to his Complete Works

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A useful catalogue in two volumes of the buildings by Arne Jacobsen set out in their chronological sequence. Each volume has a short introduction and then an entry for each building that puts together, in one place, site plans, where appropriate, and a selection of historic drawings, modern floor plans and sections along with a short description/assessment. Designs that were not, in the end, built are also included.

A selection of drawings are collected together here in the third volume but drawing-office technical drawings are not included. They show how confident and competent Jacobsen was as a draughtsman and include cartoons - with strong heavy and bold line work - sketches - or perhaps more the resolution of ideas for architectural details - sketches from travels abroad and subtle and delicate colour-wash drawings of scenery, historic buildings and plants.

by Félix Solaguren-Beascoa and published in three volumes by The Danish Architectural Press in 2002 (but currently available in paperback) 

  1. Arne Jacobsen Approach to his Complete Works 1926-1949
  2. Arne Jacobsen Approach to his Complete Works 1950-1971
  3. Arne Jacobsen Drawings 1958-1965

 

concrete and steel in the 1930s

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The Deutscher Werkbund - the German Association of Craftsmen - held an exhibition in Stuttgart in 1927 that included houses and apartment buildings - the Weissenhof Estate - designed by German architects but also by architects from Belgium, France and the Netherlands. New construction techniques for domestic buildings were shown … here an open steel frame infilled with concrete blocks for an apartment building designed by Mies van der Rohe

Until the 20th century, the main materials for building construction in Europe were natural … so stone as a strong but usually expensive walling; timber for wall framing, roofs and architectural fittings including windows and doors. Natural materials were not of course always used in their found state but were modified or transformed by builders so sand for glass; plaster for covering internal and external surfaces; clay fired for bricks and roof tiles and, of course, lime for mortar and for cement. Perhaps the biggest change to the structural form and then, as a direct consequence, to the appearance of buildings in modern Denmark came with the more and more frequent use of concrete and steel … not just for industrial buildings but for housing and apartment buildings and for new large building types and particularly where high or wide and open enclosed spaces were wanted that were unencumbered by walls or internal supports.

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... of balconies and bays in the 1930s

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  1. H C Ørsteds Vej by Thorkild Henningsen 1931

  2. Store Mølle Vej by Frode Galatius 1938

  3. Storgården housing scheme by Povl Baumann & Knud Hansen 1935

  4. Ved Volden, Christianshavn by Tyge Hvass and Henning Jørgensen 1938

  5. Sortedams Dossering by Ib Lunding completed in 1938

 

Extensive use of concrete and steel for the construction of buildings in the 20th century - from the late 1920s onwards - meant that the outside walls - the facades of a building - became less crucial for supporting the weight of walls and the upper structure - particularly the weight of the roof - and walls could be broken through and pierced with larger and wider openings until the outside wall can, in some buildings, disappear completely with all the weight of the building taken on piers in steel or concrete that were set within the building or with the structure depending on strong internal cross walls.

Particularly for apartment buildings this meant that wider and wider windows could be constructed, sometimes in metal, often made in a factory - even when they are in wood - and then brought to the site, so standardised and by using reinforced concrete, balconies could be cantilevered out from the facades and became larger and, in many buildings, much larger so that they become a dominant feature.

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