A CONVENTION CENTER:A Typological Approach to the Design of an Institutional Building

byPeter Lloyd

B.Sc. (Econ.) University of Hull, 1969Ph.D. Ohio State University, 1975

SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OFTHE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE AT THE

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYJUNE 1989

w Peter Lloyd 1989. All rights reserved.

The author hereby grants to M.I.T. permission to reproduce and distribute copiesof this thesis document in whole or in part

Signature of the Author_______ ________ _ ._ __Peter Lloyd, Department of chitecture

March 6, 1989-

Certified by - o h

LecturerThesis Supervisor

Accepted by-ARCHIVEI Bill Hubbard Jr.

Chairnmmiu Q ent Committee on Graduate StudiesOF TECHN0L OGV 18

JUN 0269 1989

UORARISA

A Convention Center: A TypologicalApproach to the Design of anInstitutional Building

by Peter Lloyd

Submitted to the Department ofArchitecture on March 6, 1989, inpartial fulfillment of the requirementsfor the Degree of Master of Architecture

ABSTRACT

If the analysis of an architecturaldesign problem suggests the use ofreferences and historical precedents,how should these be selected? Onceselected, how can similarities orcontradictions between the referencesand the problem at hand be evaluated?Simply put, how can a body ofreferences be assembled and then madepart of the design process?

As a concept, type provides a part ofthe answer to these questions. Sincethere is no consensus on the meaningand viability of this idea within a design

process, the first part of this study is adiscussion intended to define and clarifythe term.

The second part of the study is adesign exploration that takes up some ofthe issues raised in this discussion.Since the project is a convention center,a form of building for which noprecedents are widely agreed upon, thequestion of how to conceptualize a newbuilding type is posed. One of the oldestinstitutional building types, themonastery, is assessed as a possibleprototype. The assumption is not thatthe Cistercian monastery was aconvention center all along, but that thebasic morphology of its plan suggestsplanning principles with a widerinstitutional application. Thishypothesis is tested by using theseprinciples to evaluate the plans ofseveral twentieth-century buildings.

Thesis Supervisor: Tom ChastainTitle: Lecturer

i

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Tom Chastain f orhis willingness to give his time andadvice. Beyond his commitment toarchitecture and teaching, which willhelp set my own standards forprofessionalism in both, he taught methat above all else to design is to thinkclearly.

Stanford Anderson read and commentedon the text and helped clarify mythinking. John Habraken providedadvice in posing some of the theoretic:alissues. Among many conversations withstudent colleagues those with Jonath.a nTeicher stand out for their convivialsharing of ideas.

Nader and Anne Darehshori along wit.hClaudia Regan acted as my "clients" aridgave me a sense for some of the socia.ldynamics of a business convention.

To Damaris for her support.

ii

A Convention Center: ATypological Approach to the Designof an Institutional Building

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract

Acknowledgments

PART ONEType and the Use of DesignReferences

O An Operational Definitionof TypeO The Cistercian Monasteryas a Type0 Twentieth-Century Examplesof the Monastery Type

PART TWOA Convention Center

1 for Hog Island

111 The SiteEl The ProgramEl The Guest Rooms

Bibliography and Notes8

18

iii

ii

384456

64

PART ONE

TYPE AND THE USE OF DESIGNREFERENCES

An Operational Definition of Type

The idea of type is grounded ineighteenth-century rationalism and itsconfidence that the encyclopedia couldcodify all knowledge. The first explicitformulation of the concept wasdeveloped by Quatremere de Quincy inhis Dictionnaire historigue de'architcture. He drew an important

distinction between type and model.For him type was "the original reasonfor the thing, which can neithercommand nor furnish the motif or themeans of exact likeness, with the idea ofthe model the complete thing, which isbound to a formal resemblance."Quatremere's theory was a polemicagainst free expression in architecture

1

and although he talked of "imitativecharacter" as opposed to mere copyingand the "rules of grammar" that couldbe derived from neo-classical forms, hisprescriptions were not explicitlyoperational. His essay on type waspublished without diagrams ordrawings. It was, as Anthony Vidlerpoints out, "hardly a working principleof design." 1 Nor did Quatremere'stheory anticipate how the buildingwould respond to various userexpectations expressed as a program.This issue was addressed by JeanNicholas Louis Durand, a contemporaryand countryman of Quatremere, who inhis capacity as a Professor at the EcolePolytechnique developed a pedagogicalapproach to teaching architecture to themilitary engineers who were hisstudents. Durand was less interested indiscussing the aesthetic fine points ofhigh architecture than he was inoffering a synopsis of the kind of

institutional buildings for which exacthistorical precedents did not alwaysexist. The approach that he made to thehospitals, prisons, barracks, arsenalsand bridges was based principally onthat of construction. Durand expressedthe principles upon which he sawarchitecture as being based in thesewords:"1. The objects that architecture uses,that is to say, the elements of thestructures.2. The combination of these elements,in other words, the composition ingeneral; and3. The assembly of these combinationsin the composition of such and such astructure in particular." 2

Key to this rationalist approach wasthe use of the grid to demonstrate thedeployment of the major structure.Various classes of buildings weredescribed by the deployment ofparticular building elements: columns,piers, pilasters, walls, doors, etc. on an

2

f

TT T T TT T T T

Fig. I

orthogonal grid (fig 1). In addition to

conceptualizing architecture as the

placement of construction elements on a

modular grid, Durand also offered a

synopsis of representative examples of

various building types. In the foreword

to Recueil et parallele des edifices de

tout genres anciens et modernes. heexplained, "I classified the edifices and

monuments according to their kinds; I

arranged them in order of their degree

of likeness; in addition I drew them to

the same scale." This was nothing less

than a radical doctrine, since it proposed

a flexible response to the needs of a

building program. Durand held that a

flexible response to use was more

significant than matters of style or

architectural language. 3 But through

its dissemination in handbooks andmanuals and its systematization by theteaching at the Ecole des Beaux Arts,this "pragmatic" doctrine became ageneric one. It was this aspect of

3

typological thinking that the Modern

Movement reacted against. WalterGropius expressed the new ideology inthese terms: "A breach has been madewith the past, which allows us toenvision a new aspect of architecturecorresponding to the technicalcivilization that we live in; themorphology of dead styles has beendestroyed; and we are returning tohonesty of thought and feeling." 4

By the 1960's, the Modern Movementwas itself accused of being generic andformulistic. For Robert Venturi this wastoo simple an answer: "The Moderns

employed a design method based ontypological models and developed anarchitectural iconography based on theirinterpretation of the progressivetechnology of the Industrial Revolution.This would not have been a problem butfor the uncritical ubiquitous applicationof the architectural language so

derived." He went on to argue that

Gropius "created an architectural style

and spread a vocabulary of industrial

forms that were quite removed from

industrial processes." The result was a

loss of symbolic meaning, especiallygiven the fact that the language was not

explicated. According to this argument,architecture was being starved of its

meaning at the same time as it was

becoming too rigid to respond to newfunctional needs. 5

Again the contention turns on adefinition of typology which is toosimplistic. Alan Colquhoun speaks of"typological problem-solutioncomplexes" by which he means the sortof abstract knowledge that can become

part of the design process. He also feels

that type is the way that more general

architectural meaning is conveyed as a

common cultural property. 6At issue here are a number of

questions:

4

1. If new building types are a responseto programs for which there are no

historical precedents then a responsewhich relies only on the program soondevolves into shallow planning without

any architectural significance. Theinference is that a complex program canspin a unifying architectural conception

out of control. The implication is that adirect functional approach to theprogram is not the answer.

2. If a purely functional response isahistorical then it risks being simplisticbecause it ignores the iconographic andsymbolic meaning that resides in thehistorical continuities of form. But newinstitutional programs presume newbuildings for which no types exist in

history. The implication is that existing

types are transformed and that atypological approach need not assume

complete building types.

3. If type is used to refer to a series offundamental elements that can be

reconfigured, then it can both analyzeand describe historical forms and

inform current design problems.

The weakness of the historical

approach alone is manifest in Nikolaus

Pevsner's A History of Building Types.The author is quite candid "My selection

from all of these possible types has

been to some extent arbitrary."Although the commentary does watchfor changes in function and planning,

the organization of the material reflects"the order in which styles follow one

another." This is a descriptivenarrative of building projects with little

or no attempt to deal with typology at a

conceptual level. 7What is needed is a way in which

comparisons between buildings can beeasily and accurately made. But thetendency is for consistent notationalsystems to become conceptually rigidand devolve into nothing more thantaxonomies. This, as we have seen

5

above, runs the danger of creativedesign being replaced by a formalismbased on the architectural language laidout by the taxonomy. One way ofavoiding this dilemma is to make thedistinction between type as a built formand as a concept.

As a concept describing theconfiguration of built and spatialelements, type is an intellectual system.If the relationships in the configurationare invariable, then what is beingdescribed is not a type but a model. Itis easy to see that any example of abuilt type would require an infinitenumber of systems to describe itcompletely. This raises the issue of thelevel of abstraction that is appropriate.8

For G. C. Argan the simplifying

abstractions conceptualized by type aremeaningful only when the differentlevels of built intervention are thoughtabout separately. Thinking appropriate

6

to an understanding at the scale ofurban intervention may not make senseat the level of the building, whilethinking at the level of detail can becarried on independent to anyunderstanding of the building's majorstructure. Within these levels, he usesthe idea of type less to describefunctional classifications of buildingsthan to understand the morphologywhereby building types evolved: "theformal solution which, little by little,developed in order to answer that needin its historical development." 9

John Habraken picks up these samethreads. He too understands type as arule system that allows designing andbuilding to be harmoniously conductedby many players. The results of thisactivity are the various built typesthemselves. When these rules arewidely followed, it usually means that

they are not questioned and are animplicit part of the culture. In such

7

cases the typological information is thebuilding itself. Although attempts todescribe type involve abstraction andreduction which "destroys the holisticpower of the type," it is possible tomake these descriptions. "The type canbe described in many ways, as a spatialsystem, as a combination of technicalsystems, as a system of facades anddecorations." Systems showing theconfiguration of elements of a particulartype have a coherence understood interms of a theme. Thematic systems arethemselves understood in terms of thehierarchical relationship between theirelements, their capacity, theimplications of the territorial claimsmade within them, and the geometry oftheir organization. 10

The Cistercian Monastery as a Type

These buildings seem relevant to thedesign of a conference center for a

--- l 20 40

Fig. 2.1 Eberbach Monastery

8

0

Typological Elements:CloisterMajor SpaceSecondary Spaces

The Cloister organizingthe main spaces

The cloister as accessto the main spaces

The cloister sets upan organizinggeometry.

number of reasons. Not only do themonasteries represent a sustained effortto plan and build for the collective lifebut the liturgical insistence on affiliationmeant that collective space wasdeveloped in a very dynamic way. Theformulation for realizing theseobjectives evolved slowly over a longperiod. Monastic rules established thesame basic plan after the prototype hadbeen built at Fontenay between 1130and 1140. The asceticism of thisparticular order eschewed architecturalelaborations and the basics of this planwere replicated over seven hundredtimes.

If we concentrate on the principleswhich explicate just the plan, it ispossible to describe a representativemonastery as a type made from thefollowing elements: a major built space,an ensemble of secondary built spacesof various sizes, a courtyard and acloister. These elements are invariably

9

metres 10 20

feet 25 50

Fig. 2.2 Le Thoronet MonasteryAs at Eberbach the cloister istransformed from an orthogonalform to meet site conditions.This form organizes the growth ofthe complex.

10

5 10 15

fe"t 20 40

Fig 2.3 Maulbronn Monastery

11

organized around a clearly articulatedcenter. The key to this relationship is

the open and naturally lit courtyard.

The primacy of this space is further

emphasized by surrounding the court

with a cloister which forms the access

system. Territorially the precinct of the

court and cloister control the spaces

leading off from them. Courtyard and

cloister also set up a geometry which

organizes the other elements. Theserelationships are diagrammed for arepresentative selection of monasteryplans. (fig 2)

Centering light, access and geometrycreates an inward focus for themonastery as an institution. The most

important manifestation of the

collective life is the open precinctsurrounded by the perambulatory. This

form was built in response to theliturgical procession, but also served theneeds of monks reading alone andmeeting together as small groups. So

LIII UFig. 2.4 Cloister as NodeO Access makes a circuit.O This circuit as a built form.OThe form is given light inthe center.

A

t iwlz -L' - ' - '

Fig. 2.5 Node as an Organizer0 The node organizes built spacesof different sizesO The node sets up the geometryorganizing the growth of thesespaces

12

Fig 2.6 Heiligenkreuz Monastery

13

well does this form engender essential

aspects of the collective life that a widerapplication than the monastery issuggested.

Variations in the Cistercian monasterytype although small are significant. The

relationship between the major spaceand the cloister are invariable in allexamples with only minor changes in

size. The number and organization ofthe secondary spaces is what gives thistype its considerable capacity andflexibility. At the scale of the Clairvaux

Monastery (fig 3), these planning

principles are capable of giving

coherence to institutional complexes of

considerable size. 11 A series of courts

and cloisters is linked by an extendedaccess system. This system is generatedby an extension of the cloister.Although the courts and cloisters stillorganize the auxiliary spaces attached tothem, a hierarchy among these centers

is clearly denoted by size.

14

Fig. 3 Monastery Complex as aSeries of Linked Nodes0 Although Clairvaux is organizedaround several cloisters or nodes, theform as a whole is centered by beinga spatial hierarchy0 By setting up planning possibilitiesaround each cloister two levels offlexibility in planning are possible

15

It is a commonplace of architecturalhistory that such monastic formsexerted an extended legacy ininstitutional building. Peter Collins doeswell to remind us that even as late as1750 it was one of the few prototypesfor institutional building. 12 One wouldbe tempted to suggest that since theReformation, hospitals and colleges hadbeen moved into monastery buildingsand the form was conveyed byhistorical chance. But early builtexamples of hospitals, for instance atKues and Brunelleschi's Oepedale DegliInnocenti, are easy to describe in termsof the Cistercian Monastery type (fig 4).The case that it was the excellence ofthe form that explains such borrowingsis rather ironically made by one ofDurand's plates. Although the cloisterform is maintained, its potential as ameans for flexible planning is renderedineffective by its being contained withina symmetrical closed form. (fig 5)

9

Fig. 4 Kues Hospital as a CloisterOrganization

16

Fig. 5 Cloister forms where the decision tofix the peremeter and use axial organizationresults in a loss of flexibleplanning.

17

A AIOFITA,'W

S-t I. N S*-e.

4] -4-4---4----04-~-

Rbwd. .

: 0 EI

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Twentieth-Century Examples of theMonastery Type

The Monastery of Sainte-Marie de LaTourette is as interesting for how LeCorbusier remained true to a twelfth-century monastery form as for how hetransformed it. The program wasessentially the same as that for any ofthe monasteries looked at earlier withthe exception that the monks wouldhave cells instead of sharing a dorter.In responding, Corbusier drew directlyfrom a lifetime of speculation on themonastery as a type. The impressionthat the Charterhouse of Ema made onthe architect when he first saw it as ayoung man is well documented. (fig 6)Le Corbusier's own words record howthe building made him "conscious of theharmony which results from theinterplay of individual and collectivelife when each results favourably on theother. Individuality and collectivity

9

Fig. 6"The Charter House of Ema"The Galluzo Monastery

18

understood as a fundamental dualism."13

The forms of La Tourette can beperceived as a transformation of thoseof the Cistercian monastery of LeThoronet which Le Corbusier visitedbefore begining work on his ownmonastery design. (fig 7) Colin Rowedraws attention to the "tension betweenlongtitudinal and transversemovements"; Boesiger to the way "thecirculation connects all the parts, inparticular those which appear in a newform (the achievement of the traditionalcloister form is rendered impossiblehere by the slope of the terrain)."What remains unsaid by both thesecritics is that the collective life of themonastery has to do with walking thecircuit of the main precinct. 14

Typically this conception is mostsuccinctly expressed by the architecthimself: "I tried to make a place ofmeditation, research and prayer for the

Fig. 7 19

Lo-er floor

preaching brothers. The humanresonances of this problem guided ourwork...I imagined what forms, contacts,circulation would be needed so thatprayer, liturgy, meditation and studywould go on comfortably in this house."15

To realize these objectives, Corbusieraccepted the significance of the cloister,which became the organizing principleof La Tourette. But the form of thecloister was significantly transformedby being expressed not just at groundlevel but on each of the building's fourmajor levels. At any one level thecloister does not allow a completeperambulation of the central space.Apart from the roof level which is opento the elements and the view, the otherparts of the cloister are enclosed butonly by glazing, which enables thewhole of the cloister form to berevealed by movement through it. Aconsequence of developing the section

1EliU.....One level of flexibility

L%%I 0

. -]

E*-L:0

Two Levels of flexibility

Fig. 7.1Although broken open in plan, the cloisterform is still made to function as a node bybeing held together by circulation and light.This allows the possiblility that each elementof the form can reflect independent planningdecisions. Another level of flexibility ismade possible by this division.

20

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Fig.~~~~ 7.2 C.iseratLaToretAn ~ ~ ~ ~ .opne c.iserfo..i

coplte by. ihtan.vew

21

in this way is to allow the cloister to beseparated from the ground and thelargest built space opening the buildingto the landscape. (fig 8)

By contrast Louis Kahn's project for aconvent is an unsuccessful attempt towork with this monastery type. Theprogram anticipated the traditionalforms of cloister, chapel, refectory,school, library and rooms for the nunsto live in. All of the schemes proposedfor this design consist of a buildingcluster contained within a cloister for mopened on one side.

In terms of the monastery type,Kahn's scheme broke the cloister forminto a series of segments which werenot as in La Tourette reconfigured into aunified form. This abandoned the chiefstrategy for making the center. Insteada partial cloister is made into acontaining form but without derivingany organizing geometry. AlthoughKahn argued "the elements of the plan

22

Fig. 7.3 Access Circuits at LaTourette

#0CS

4CC

I0.

0 -

4...

C

I.

are almost floating, taking their positioneither from the contours of the hill browor from the search for connection withthe neighboring building," the scheme

remains unconvincing and it was neverrealized. (fig 9)

The record appears to suggest that in

fact Kahn shared the same objectives asthe early monastery builders. We areleft with this rumination: "The nucleusof the very beginning monastery wasnot a loss but new realizations came toit by considering the spirit of the

monastery. It is for this reason myinterest in this nucleus, in formrealization, form meaning, therealization of inseparable parts ofsomething." He also appears to havebeen looking for an additive form,"make the building find its ownconnections" was the way he put it.These ideas assume more coherence ifthey are seen as being connected toKahn's long speculation on a theory of

0

Fig. 9Louis Kahn: Convent for the DominicanSisters (Project)

24

--a3

-- 3

3

A

t L 4. " C--

IV 1--

9.1 Although the cloister broken open, theform is left incomplete. The wings of thecloister are segmented and additonalseparations are introduced at the corners.The unifying effect of a continuity of light atthe center is also given up

9.2 The attempt to achieve a freedom ofplaning within the court proves to be ratherconvoluted while no advantage is taken ofplanning of the outside of the quadrangle.

25

the institution which could be given

expression in a form diagram.If we consider his design for the First

Unitarian Church we find a much clearerexample of theory and implementation.According to this theory, design shouldbe driven less by a narrowaccommodation of program than by anattempt to build for fundamental socialactivities implicit in the client's

commission.According to Kahn, "one of the most

important aids in the work that I do

comes from the realization that any

building belongs to some institution of

man.... Institution stems from theinspiration to live. This inspirationremains meekly expressed in ourinstitutions today. The three greatinspirations are the inspiration to learn,the inspiration to meet and theinspiration for well being."

If we consider Kahn's form diagramwith the first version of the plan, the

connection is very easy to read. (fig 10)All aspects of the monastery typologyare present in both diagram and plan.A diagram of the plan from which thebuilding was made makes it clear thatthe issues of building, the center withthe cloister form, are addressed here.Although the center in Kahn's church isthe assemby room and not an opencourtyard, it is top lit and very muchthe central space. Also the cloister formallows for the flexible deployment ofsecondary spaces. 16

Two schemes by Alvar Aalto provideanother opportunity to consider"cloister", courtyard and attachedelements as an organizing principleespecially for an insitutional builiding.As for Corbusier and Kahn, striving tobuild for the collective life was arecurrent theme in Aalto's work. Manyof Aalto's buildings in some way focuson a courtyard or central void. Theinspiration for this organizational theme

26

0

dlmast ;

Al!

Tadvb

01:3 -

Fig. 10 Kahn's form diagrams for the FirstUnitarian Church and a comparison with adiagram showing the relationship of theelements of cloister, major space andsecondary spaces.

27

cannot be explained as the borrowing ofa monastery form. The motif of agrouping of subsidiary elements arounda central core is found in other sourcesused by the architect. The open clustersof Karelian farm (fig 11) buildingsprovide one source and the atriumhouse and Roman forum are two others.17

To some extent the use of one sourceover another influenced the approachtaken. For example the open cluster ofAalto's summer house at Muuratsalo canbe seen as an interpretation of thevernacular farm buildings of the region.

Saynatsalo town hall, on the other hand,uses more delineated orderingprinciples whose origins could bededuced as Roman civic forms.

It seems likely that Aalto had no

distinct prototype in mind but wasworking with the elements consideredso far in our discussion. Again theimplication is that typological

ULI

N

3

Fig. 11.1 A typical cluster of Karelinian farmbuildings

28

Kr)

~

@0S

0

0

Fig. 11.2Aalto: Summer House atMuuratsalo

29K 0

Ir

similarities can be made on the basis ofcommon elements and configurationsinstead of shared historical prototypes.That Aalto could design freely withinthe discipline of a typological approachis no longer taken to be a contradiction.Demetri Porphyrios draws attention towhat he calls a typological drive inAalto's thinking. This, as Colquohounmentions, makes for a surprisingconnection between him and Corbusier.

Part of Aalto's sureness withtypological forms came from hisconviction that they are carried in theculture and have an associational valuewhich allows architecture tocommunicate. For example in Westernculture, the town hall has long beenassociated with the open court. Aalto'sneo-classical training gave him thesense that valid historical forms werethe language of architecture. But in hishands form language was not imitationbut transformation. Still, Aalto strongly

believed that such transformationsshould not extend beyond the meaningof the form. "In architecture, "heclaimed,"what matters is time.

Repetition and use makes thingsacceptable. I do not mean copying, butletting time distill thought withoutdestroying it. Our 'sentiments are

excited only because we have memory."

18This suggests that Aalto's conception

of type was a way of thinking of spatialunits and not whole buildings. Adiscussion of the fan shape in Aaltobuildings is a familiar one. Although an

expedient shape for auditoria, Aalto'sapplication of the form was much wider

than this and the form was usedpragmatically for library spaces

focusing on a circulation desk and on a

larger scale to unite different building

geometries.A planning process relying on the free

manipulation of typological elements

30

fig 11.3Aalto: Saynatsalo Town Hall

has to contend with how these elements

come together. Peter Blundell Jones,

referring generally to Aalto's post-War

institutional buildings, describes the

implications for circulation: "The

articulation of volumes each according

to its own rules and expressing its own

purpose, produced dynamic in-between

spaces used as entrance halls and foyers

taking their character from the more

positive elements around them and

from their linking function rather than

as defined enclosures in their own

right." 19This should not lead us to suppose

that circulation is simply left-over space

in Aalto's buildings as we can see by

looking again at Saynatsalo town hall.

The plan shows similarities to La

Tourette. But small very significant

changes in the configuration make the

difference between a closed hierarchical

institution which is partially opened to

nature and an open democratic

31

institutional form which is only partly

closed to nature. The difference lies in

the way the circulation system is

handled. At Saynatsalo the entrance is

into the grassy court with the option of

leaving again. The open court is a

physical and spatial mediator between

the primary and secondary spaces. In

La Tourette the circulation serves as a

direct conduit with the courtyard space

serving merely as a processional

interval In La Tourette the building

forms the court; in Saynatsalo the court

in a real sense forms the building. (fig

12) The institutional intentions in the

Wolfsburg Cultural Center are also to

provide an open forum in a municipal

setting. But the setting is the noisy

center of a bleak industrial town and

not a village in the woods. The response

is again to raise the courtyard but this

time to protect it by the building. Again

a well lit perambulatory in a cloister

form is used as the intermediary

......... -.. ...

Fig. 12 The cloister form is opened up intonot two but three elements. Each can beindependently planned. In additon the formcan respond to an external access system.Aalto has added another layer of flexibilityto this organizational type.

32

between the major space, in this casethe cluster of auditoria, and thesecondary spaces. Again the cloisterdoes not complete its circuit. AtSaynatsalo the fourth side of the quad isleft open; at Wolfsburg it is droppedbelow the court level and becomes themajor circulation spine for the buildingat street level. This plays out anothertheme of La Tourette, that of splittingthe complete cloister between differentlevels. (fig 13)

33

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- £Tht?~ ~

pp

34

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Fig. 13Aalto: Wolfsburg CulturalCenter

35

PART TWO

A CONVENTION CENTER FORHOG ISLAND

36

9

37

The Site 9

The usefulness of the type beingdiscussed depends on how well it can

accommodate the conditions of the siteand the requirements of the program.Site observations were organized into an

analytical description that providesclues for the siting of the building as

well as its form. As the maps indicate,the site is a group of islands within atidal estuary. Both the island and itssurroundings are in their natural state.

This was simplified into three mainelements:1. The configuration created by thethree islands

2. The topography and woods coveringmost of Hog Island3. Views and solar orientation

The first scenario introduced was thatof arriving at the site. A number ofpositions were taken:

38

.-- 400 feetI - mile

39

0 The building should be visible fromArgilla Road.' Arrival should be either from themainland by crossing Long Island andtaking a ferry to Hog Island or directlyby boat.o Movement through the site was seenas a path system connecting the threedistinctive places which were seen as:A. The harborB. The hillC. The long meadow.

A crucial consideration in siting thebuilding was that it should favor thenetwork of paths which would not onlyserve the places above but do it bymaking the best advantage of thelandscape, which is to say, by tending toremain parallel to the contours asopposed to crossing them; by beingguided by existing edge conditions, forinstance the woods defining the edge ofLong Meadow; and by seeking the bestviews. 20

P,

The relationship between site places and thepath system which takes best advantage ofthe site.

40

Since the site is a series of sloping(approximately 1:10) flanks around ahill rising 173 feet above sea level,building on these slopes was decidedupon, especially when confirmed byconsiderations of path, view, solar

orientation and place. The building wasbroken into two main components to bedeveloped in a linear fashion parallel tothe contours. This allowed the majoraccess to be kept on the same level. The

hill was left alone but considered for thepart it could play in unifying the

scheme.

Solar Orientation and Major Views

41

a ** a

edO.0 *

0 **0

60. .9<" I~I~1LII~

IIEllIzizEr

a

.*pa.*jp*.*w*Od,

The planning scheme as a response to path,place view and solar orientation.

The Planning Scheme as a Transformation ofthe Traditional Monastery Form

42

' 9

aa ** a *

9

LI

9

V

rl-

The site plan as an interpretation of theplanning scheme.

43

The ProgramTo give form to any institution

requires anticipating activities as

categories of space needs. Lawrence B.

Anderson summed up these categoriesfor one conference center as reception,conference rooms, offices, dining rooms

and kitchen, auditorium and staff

accommodation. He did not confuse this

sort of planning as being the final

design. "For clarity these spaces are

grouped in categories, although [theylmay well merge and overlap. Above allthere is the wish to avoid the sin of toogreat precision, which might inhibitreformulation by the designer." 21

I used a client group to help develop

Anderson's categories. The followingspaces were chosen: reception, mainmeeting area, conference rooms, eatingand drinking areas, kitchen, guestrooms, exercise and recreation facilities,staff offices and bedrooms, and outside

spaces. With these elements in mind a

number of issues were raised:1. Should groups of activities besegregated into the same area?2. Which activities would benefit fromsharing the same or adjacent spaces?3. Which activities should be allocatedtheir own exclusive space?

Discussion of these questions led to an

agreement that the functioning of thisparticular institution predicted fourdiscrete sets of spaces:1. A space (a restaurant for instance) towhich the public could have free access.2. A reception area for the conventioncenter with eating and drinkingfacilities adjacent.

3. Meeting rooms and auditoria.4. The guest rooms and recreationalfacilities.

In addition, connections to the outsideshould be possible for all spaces exceptthe conference meeting rooms. Acondition for the guest rooms is that

44

0

9

they represent a flexible planning

element. The scheme should allow for

the addition of extra rooms as well as

changes in room size.Again, a planning scheme using the

same typological elements seemedappropriate. The flexibility that allowed

for a free response to the site also

provided an easy programmatic

demarcation between a collective centerand a series of individual rooms.

As we have seen, flexibility ofplanning can be achieved bymanipulating the traditional monasterytype. The question of how the basic

elements of cloister with its attendant

spaces are reconfigured, without losing

the advantages of the traditional

organization, depends on how well the

following issues are addressed:

1. The use of a circulation loop as an

organizer.2. The replication of this organization.

3. Making a continuity of the loop byother means than duplicating a cloisterform.4. Breaking the cloister form into aseries of elements.

The design exploration for aconvention center was an attempt tounderstand these issues.

45

Circulation to use at the upper levels.

50 Feet

0

46

t

0

The orgaUti0 n Of these spaces by a cloisterform

.- er ------

47

This main cloister is divided between thetwo principal levels. This displacementallows the main external circulation to passthrough the building without disrupting itscollective center.

II

0

I1

48

49

.... ... ... .. e

The circulation loop divided between twolevels is replicated and used to organize the

other parts of the building.

*1

e

50

1. .'r-- .:

51

The loops organize the main public spaces.

16 feet

52

N

53

.. .. . - ...-**

9

54

Support and Infill Systems

55

The Guest Rooms

The guest rooms were organized as a

series of single and double loadedcorridors. Rooms and corridors weredeveloped as terraces of single-storyconstruction. It was consideredimportant that the plan should allow forthe construction of additional roomsand that the size of the rooms should beeasy to change after construction. Theseobjectives were accommodated by usinga support-infill approach. 22 Thesupport was conceived as a series ofparallel bearing walls carrying concreteplanks which made the roof. The infillelements were based on woodconstruction.

CorridorsThe objective was to limit the run ofroom entrances to six and to offset roomentrances in double loaded corridors.Junctions between short corridor runs

became common rooms which alsoprovided a light source. Corridors were

always concluded with a common space.These locations also provided a locationfor the stairs.

Modular coordinationThe layout for the support walls was

based on the optimum spacing for fourroom sizes. Using a 4'-0" module, a24'-0" spacing for the support walls,allowed all combinations of room sizesto be accommodated within the bays.This spacing was also compatible withplacing large and smaller rooms inadjacent bays to make suites.

56

I ________________________________II

E-* U

57

A

I rd

Aa;ESS ORRIDOR

IDARK ZONE ADJACENT

TO THE ENTRY

INTER-ROOM ACCESS

LIGHT ZONE ADJACENTTO THE FACADE

I

ZoningA number of use zones were set up

perpendicular to the support bays.

These zones were based on light, accessand use and served mainly to help

make the decisions of where to locatethe largest infill elements and where toopen the support walls to allow access

between the rooms.

Otoo.* 0 e. .11...90

I.

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58

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Inf ill ElementsEach guest room was understood as a

number of activity and use spaces

which were seen to be: entry, washing

and storage, socializing, sleeping and

working. The deployment of elements

within the support bays was intended to

set up discrete spaces for theseactivities. The elements themselveswere broken into three classes: the

bathroom and closet "boxes," thepartition wall and study bay and thefacade.

The bathroom set up the entry zone to

the room from the corridor, and thebathroom and the closet made a foyerwithin the room. Movement of the

bathroom "box" within the support bay

established the main demarcationbetween the rooms with the partitionwall and work bay setting up a series of

60

9

61

smaller space moves. Bathrooms couldeither be doubled up or used bythemselves.

FacadeThe facade was planned to respond

flexibly to the changing use decisionswithin the rooms. All of the facadeelements are interchangeable and canbe placed within two zones. The 9'-0"high support bays were divided at 7'-0"by a transom which divided the facadesinto two independent placement zones.

The facade also had to respect thesupport walls every 24'-0".

Transparent, translucent andopaque facade elements were used.Horizontal and vertical integration wasorganized by the window mullionswhich also respected lines of sight andhorizontal use dimensions.

62

CJ I I

" IIje J A__a

63

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND NOTES 1. Quatremere de Quincy "Type" inEncyclopedie methodique. architecture.vol 3 pt II (Paris 1825); Anthony Vidler,"The Idea of Type: The Transformationof the Academic Ideal, 1750-1830"Oppositions 8 (Spring 1977),105

2. Durand, Precis des leconsd'architecure donnees a lEcolePolytcghnique Paris 1802-1805 1, 4

3. Recueil et parallele des edifices detout genre anciens et modernes(Princeton: Princeton ArchitecturalPress: 1982) foreword; See RafaelMoneo, "On Typology" Oppositions 13(Summer, 1978), esp 28-32

4. Walter Gropius, The NewArchitecture and the Bauhaus(Cambridge: MIT Press, 1965) 19

5. Robert Venturi, Learning from LasV (Cambridge: MIT Press,1972)135-136, 137, 16 2; Complexiand Contradiction in Architecture (NewYork: Museum of Modern Art, 1966, 19

64

6. Alan Colquhoun, "Typology andDesign Method" in Essays inArchitectural Criticism: ModernArchitecture and Historical Change(Cambridge: MIT Press, 1981) 49

7. Nikolaus Pevsner, A History ofBuilding Types (Princeton: PrincetonUniversity Press, 1976) 9, 10

8. See Stanford Anderson, "Types andConventions in Time: Towards a Historyfor the Duration and Change ofArtifacts" Perspecta 18 (1982) 109-117;Moneo Ibid esp 23-28

9. See Micha Bandini, "Typology as aForm of Convention" A.A. Files 6 (May,1984) esp 75-76; Werner Oechslin,"Premises for the Resumption of theDiscussion of Typology," Assemblage 1(Oct, 1986) 37-52

10. N. John Habraken, "The control ofComplexity," Places 4 No. 2 (1987) 7. 8;The Appearance of the Form(Cambridge: Atwater Press, 1985;Transformations of the Site (Cambridge:

Atwater Press, 1983); "ControlHierarchies in Complex Artifacts" Paperfor the International Design Conf.Boston, 1987

11. See Wolfgang Braunfels,Monasteries of Western Europe (London:Thames and Hudson, 1972) esp 67-110

12. Peter Collins, Changing Ideals inModern Architecture (London: Faberand Faber, 1965) 219; Pevsner, Ibid142: Durand, Recueil et parallele p1 29

13. William Curtis, Le Corbusier: Ideasand Forms (Oxford: Phaidon, 1986) 181

14. Colin Rowe, "La Tourette" in TheMathematics of the Ideal Villa andOther Essays (Cambridge: MIT Press,1982) 186; W. Boesiger, H. Girsberger,Le Corbusier 1910-65 (Zurich: LesEditions d'Architeckture, 1967) 266

15. Quoted in Le Corbusier: Architect ofthe Century (London: Arts Council ofGreat Britain, 1987) 250

65

16. For the presentation of the twoschemes discussed, including Kahn'sannotations see Louis Kahn: CompleteWorks. 1935-1974 ed. Heinz Ronner,Sharad Jhaveri (Basel and Boston:Birkhauser, 1987) 2nd. ed pp.302-3 10,116-123; one of institution quotes wascited in John Lobell, Between Silenceand Light: Spirit in the Architecture ofLouis Kahn (Boston: Shambala, 1979) 44and Richard Saul Wurman, ed., WhatWill Be Has Always Been: The Words ofLouis I. Kahn (New York: Rizzoli, 1986)

17. Norberg-Shulz describes this typicalconfiguration: "The buildings comeeither in cluster formations or in semi-open enclosure arrangements."Christian Norberg Shulz, TimberBuildings of Europe (Tokyo: Edita, 1978)243 This freedom of form is preciselywhat appealed to Aalto. "When theKarelian village is at its best," he wrote,"it uses the terrain's topography, viewsand other values in an instructivemanner ... Here we truly have a buildingplan, in the best meaning of the word,that adapts itself to Finnish nature."

(Sketches: Alvar Aalto ed., Goran Schildt(Cambridge: MIT Press, 1985) 83

18. Coquohoun, "Alvar A alto: Typeverses Function" in Essays 75-80;Demetri Porphyrios, "The Burst ofMemory: Annessay on Alvar Aalto'sTypological Conception of Design" ArchDesigan49 (1979) 143-148, quote 147.

19. "A perspective Space" in Arch Rev1093 (March 1987) 22

20. Although using the term as a wayof analyzing an urban setting, Cullendefines a concept of "place" using someof the following criteria: occupiedterritory as defined by shade, shelter,amenity and convenience and thedistinction between here and there asestablished by change of level, vistas,closure etc. See Gordon Cullen, TheConcise Townscape (New York: VanNostrand, 1975) esp. 21-56. Theimportance of the concept of "path" as aform of cognition is stressed by KevinLynch, Image of the City (Cambridge:MIT Press, 1960) 47, passim; and as a

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*

"moving view" in Site Plani(Cambridge: MIT Press, 1984) 205

21. Lawrence B. Anderson, "A mericanAcademy of Arts and SciencesArchitectural Program." MSS. October 3,1977,9.

22. N. John Habraken et al., Variations:The Systematic Design of Supports(Cambridge: Laboratory of Architectureand Planning, 1976)

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