3O4U 'On Weathering' 2006

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Introduction

‘3 Over 4 Under’ is an annual exhibition / forum presented by the Young Architects of WA, providing an opportunity for three established practices and four emerging practices to present and discuss current works.

Theme: On Weathering Forum Location: Rosie O’Grady’s, Cnr James St and Milligan St, Northbridge - Exhibition Location: Cnr of Lake St and James St, Northbridge Speakers: Overs Colin Armstrong, Brian Klopper, Adrian Welke Unders Andrea Quagliola ; Kelly Rattigan; Daniela Simon; Jane Wetherall

The theme of this year’s event is ‘On Weathering’. We have invited the 7 presenters to consider closely the notion of weathering, encouraging them to voice their concepts, design strategies and histories through the exploration of the physical, the contextual and experiences of weathering.

The weathering of built form is implicit to architecture in both the real and metaphoric sense. In the real sense, it is shelter, keeping out undesirable elements such as rain. Architects fight against the ruination of their shelters, having to maintaining and restore them continually.

On the other hand weathering can be embraced, enhancing architecture, through the careful and considered selection of materials to transform over time.

But architecture is not just about the built fabric. Metaphoric weathering can explore notions such as the weathering of place, evolving, refining and adapting to seasonal change; or the weathering of societies perceptions of buildings shifting from outcast to icon and vice versa.

We hope through the 2006 ‘3 Over 4 Under’ exhibition / forum the complexities of weathering will become apparent and that these ideas are integral to the making of place and architecture.

Leon Slattery and David BarrOctober 2006

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‘On Weathering’

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Finishing ends construction, w e a t h e r i n g c o n s t r u c t s finishes. On Weathering: The Life of Buildings in Time, Mostafavi,M and Leatherbarrow,D. 1993 The MIT Press, London

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Kelly Rattigan ArchitectsKelly Rattigan

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Name of Practice:Kelly Rattigan Architects

Name of Principals:Kelly RattiganDate of Practice Commencement:2001

Size of Office: SmallSmall = 1-5, Medium = 6-15, Large =16-25, Extra Large = 26 and up

No. of projects completed for family members: 1

Practice Statement:A small, steady practice servicing domestic and commercial clients.

Ongoing Research:Local vernacular

Current Projects:Quinlan Residence

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The Defects List

Practical completion arrives and the client’s expectations are finally met – or are they? The ‘dream home’ stands alone in the street as their ideals paint a picture of a very different place. How does that happen? “More brickwork than we needed – perhaps.” “Slightly less glass would have helped, although the view is magnificent.” “That driving rain really hits home when it wants to – but we really are happy and we love it.”

Kelly RattiganOctober 2006

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Daniela Simon Sodaa

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Name of Practice:Sodaa

Name of Principals:Daniela Simon

Date of Practice Commencement:2000


Practice Statement:Whilst SODAA is an acronym, it also suggests a certain effervescence. Although this is a young practice it has been established with a strong, mature, multi-layered view, given the cultural mix, which brings a passion for all things beautiful and things of a contemporary flavour. With our determination to make the experience of the design process a positive journey, we envisage that our current and future clients will consider our office to be their own personal creative space.


Ongoing Research:Teaching at UWA & Urban Design for Bremer Bay

Current Projects: Bremer Bay Beach House

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On Weathering

This project illustrates both how the weather pattern in Bremer Bay informed the design and how the materials chosen actually behave in that environment through time.

The site, being constantly battered by winds from most directions, required me to provide a cocoon-like holiday home that had ample views but that did not feel like a fortress. My solution was to design two outdoor areas that were sheltered and usable in different seasons according to the wind patterns. In this case the house has been designed to provide usable shelter to the outdoors for a summer and a winter garden.

The other main issue is the occurrence of bush fires which generally sweep through the area on average every fifteen years. The question for me was: ‘what would remain of the house should a bush fire claim it?’. The choice is based on the conviction that both rammed earth and weather resistant steel cladding walls would remain intact. Even though the steel cladding is fixed to recycled jarrah posts, it acts as a continuous welded screen that actually hangs from the roof steel structure.

I also chose not to use white ant treatment knowing that should the ants eat all timber we would still have structurally secure shelter.

Daniela SimonOctober 2006

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Jane Wetheral Geoff Warn and Jane Wetherall

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Name of Practice:Geoff Warn and Jane Wetherall

Name of Principals:-



Practice Statement:-


Current Projects: Leederville HouseShenton Park AdditionPerth AdditionHamilton Hill House

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On Weathering

I first considered this “theme” in terms of the physical, the material …I thought of the rusting oversized steel structure of the Leederville house. The clean, crisp aluminium and glass cladding of the additions in Shenton Park and Perth juxtaposed against the worn brickwork of the original buildings. And in Hamilton Hill, the stratification between occupation and site, as the proposed residence rides high above the strangely fabricated “natural terrain”.

Although these observations are valid and could be expanded upon, it is not how the projects were conceived – or how I relate to them now.

What I find inspiring about these projects, these underdogs, is that they have gone in to battle and have emerged triumphant and optimistic. Their small yet undeniable presence can not be excluded when considering “local amenity” in their streets or suburbs.What has previously been regarded a threat to “local amenity” can now be considered with fresh eyes and, as in the case of the Leederville house, a heritage listing.

I like this other idea of weathering – the quiet revolution, the subtle erosion not of the built form but of the opposition to it.

Jane WetherallOctober 2006

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MORQ*Andrea Quagliola

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Name of Practice:MORQ*Name of Principals:Andrea Quagliola, Emiliano Roia, Matteo Monteduro

Date of Practice Commencement:2001 (Rome), 2004 (Perth)


Practice Statement:MORQ* is a small scale design practice committed to experimentation in contemporary architecture through professional practice as well as through university research and teaching. Works range from small residential projects to large scale design competitions.At present MORQ* has several buildings and residences under construction in Australia, Italy and Switzerland.

No. of projects completed for family members: 0!

Ongoing Research:Circularity and transformability in response to contemporary living.

Current Projects: inner-city flats vs free-standing houses

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TEXTURE OF TIMBER: THE COURTYARD HOUSE, GNARABUP The modest house consists of a 13x11x4m timber box, slightly suspended from the sloping ground. The space revolves around a 5x4m open courtyard, which allows for the light and the warmth of the Australian sun to follow the daily routine of the newly formed family. The cladding finishes express different material qualities of two species of timber and hopefully set some “textural guidelines” for them to develop in time:The external cladding is black-stained Western Red Cedar, which provides a more abstract materiality to the skin of the house, and sets a dark back-ground to the peppermint-trees. The parapet of the internal courtyard, the recesses around the openings, and all decking are constructed in Batu, providing a warmer tactility to those parts which relate (both visually and physically) to the inside of thehouse. The spatiality of the house is defined through the relationship between the two different timber species, which highlight the transition from public to private, from open to more intimate spaces, from visual to tactile. This relationship, however, is of an unstable nature and will evolve through the weathering patterns of the two species, with each of them altering its texture differently. We imagine that the contrast between the two timbers will become more subtle and that the box will gain a stronger belonging to the bush without losing its abstract character. MORQ*October 2006

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Colin Armstrong Kornweibel ArmstrongArchitects

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Name of Practice:Kornweibel Armstrong ArchitectsName of Principals:Colin Armstrong



Practice Statement:After ten years of ‘western suburbs’ residential design and interior design I am interested in different building types and opportunities. This goal is a difficult and expensive one to achieve moving from a residential work environment directly into private practice but so far it is slowly working. I know that detailed residential design experience provides the right tools and skills to apply to the commercial and institutional architectural world. It is just proving to be difficult convincing client groups of that! Onwards and upwards!

No. of projects completed for family members: THREE AND NO MORE! (Sorry James you missed out!)

Ongoing Research:Timber design and construction methodsThermal efficiencyMaterial limits

Current Projects: (key projects for the night)The BakerySt Hyacynth - Yalgoo

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WEATHERING

My key interest with weathering is not so much the change in material, surface or joint but society’s response to the weathering of buildings and the weathering of architecture.

Society refuses to accept weathering. Weathering is considered a defect.

Weathering and aging are different phenomena but are interrelated. Our society dislikes the visual representation of a materials age. Should the weathering of a buildings appearance alter its long term acceptance?

We know that in general society does not consider architecture seriously and therefore does not value it. But some old, weathered buildings are valued architecturally and are preserved. Why?

How do we get people to accept that buildings weather? How does architecture weather society’s want to replace? Can design ameliorate societies want to replace?

In addition to good detailing architectural practice needs to manage the client to resolve weathering and help develop long term architectural acceptance.

A building that physically and aesthetically demonstrates architectural rigour can last. A sustainable building is one that remains standing!

Colin ArmstrongOctober 2006

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Adrian Welke Troppo Architects

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Name of Practice:troppo architects (freo) p/l

Name of Principals:Adrian Welke

Date of Practice Commencement:Troppo Architects (1980)

Size of Office: Small (4)Small = 1-5, Medium = 6-15, Large =16-25, Extra Large = 26 and up

Practice Statement:Troppo is a practice of regionally based practices aiming to develop regionally responsive architecturess For the place of each project, let’s promote a Sense of place:through an architecture that responds to climate and the local setting: a dynamic architecture of adjustable skins: that connects the indoors with the out (or should that be the outdoors with the in?): a non constant architecture that responds to the morning , the evening, the season, the heat, the cold, the sun, the rain - the moment that will never pass again.

Troppo embraces the informality that is the Australian lifestyle.

We believe that architecture should express a certain poetry, its users’ personalities,and the uniqueness of the mix of place, people and the day: but also some basic logic...We believe that a building is foremost a structure. From this standpoint only rational design decisions can flow- with consequent robustness, ‘buildability’ and economy. And we believe that a building should be fun, friendly and forever adaptable.

We are commotted to the notion of environmentally sustainable, responsive architecture.Which leads to a whole-of-site approach (and beyond).

Building is a verb, too: we enjoy thinking bout the (human) process of building developing building programs that incorporate local materials and trade-skills, artisits and community resources: an event that might add to a community’s social and cultural fabric.

No. of projects completed for family members: 1+1/2

Ongoing Research:Always Learning

Current Projects: (key projects for the night)Mawsons Huts 2006 Works Plan

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Ice Blasting

Mawson’s Huts are located 3003kms due south of Hobart at Cape Denison in Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica. The uninhabited site is considered to be of outstanding heritage value to the nation and is entered on the National, Commonwealth Heritage lists and the Register of the National Estate.

Temperature at Cape Denison ranges from as low as –30C in winter to just above freezing in summer. The site is also widely recognised as the windiest place on earth with a recorded average wind speed of 71km/hr and katabatic wind gusts of up to 300km/hr being experienced.

Mawson established his base camp here in 1911 to undertake scientific experiments over the following year. The huts, built of oregon frame and baltic pine cladding, currently survive substantially in tact.

The interiors have been largely frozen in time with little or no change since the day they were abandoned in 1914. The Huts leaked snow and ice from the day they were constructed. Failure of a skylight panel,..and someone possibly leaving the door open circa 1960,… resulted in the interiors becoming almost completely filled with snow and ice. Some structural damage due to the weight of this ice has occurred.

The external t&g roof and wall claddings and associated detail have experience considerable degradation due to ‘corrasion’ by wind driven snow and ice particles. The resulting patina, reminiscent of sand blasting, is now cited as an important part of the accepted significance of the site to be preserved.

The Huts have been the subject of a series of expeditions over recent years to conserve the remaining fabric and significance to ensure their long term survival. An expedition left Hobart on 20/10/06 to undertake the last main works program which includes the ‘overcladding’ of than Main Living Hut roof and further ice removal from the interior of the Huts.

Adrian WelkeOctober 2006

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Brian Klopper Brian Klopper Architect

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Name of practice: Brian Klopper Architect

Name of principals: Brian Klopper

Date of practice commencement: 1971

Size of office: Small

Small = 1-5, Medium = 6-15, Large =16-25, Extra Large = 26 and up

Practice Statement:No practice statement, no mission statement, no overarching & no outcomes

Ongoing Research: None

Current Projects: Live work units East FremantleHouse South FremantleShops & Houses ToodyayAdditions Toodyay Library

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On Weathering

Come in she said, I’ll give you shelter from the storm

What storm…the information storm…the great squalls and tempests that pour out of our screens and paper

How can we weather these storms

What on the balance of probabilities is likely to be the true course

How do we make decisions that affect our own lives

How do we make architectural decisions that affect other peoples lives

Can most of the people be fooled most of the time

Perhaps the true course will remain forever hidden but we are experienced mariners and great survivors and a good course will be found

And we know we are going to make it

Brian KlopperOctober 2006

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The 3 Over 4 Under Exhibition was brought to you by the Young Architects Commitee in collaboration with Leon SLattery and David Barr.

Sponsors

3O4U 'On Weathering' 2006

Documents

Transcript of 3O4U 'On Weathering' 2006