Architecture of Necessity

Architecture of Necessity - selected offices

2010-04-22T10:53:00.000-07:00

Virserum Art Museum's international call for an Architecture of Necessity has resulted in more than 140 contributions from all four continents. The quality of projects submitted has been very high, and a lot of thought and effort has gone in to both the projects themselves and the presentations we've received.

After a long and arduous process, we have settled on 42 projects that we feel best encapsulate the Architecture of Necessity. The selected projects will be part of WOOD 2010, Virserum Art Museum's next major exhibition on wood, wood architecture and sustainable development.

All 42 agencies are still in the running for three honorary mentions, to be announced by a jury of internationally renowned architects in August.

We would like to thank all the agencies that have contributed to the Architecture of Necessity for their hard work and inspirational projects.

The following agencies have been selected for WOOD 2010:

1st Floor Architecture

aart a/s

ALA Architects

Anne Holtrop

Claudio Baladron Z. & Diego Grass P.

Behnisch Architekten

Berlage Institute

Boba Stanic

Casey Brown Architecture

DUS Architects

Efem arkitektkontor

FARO Architecten

FoRo ARQuitectos

Kaden Klingbeil Architekten

Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture

KLARchitects

Knafo Klimor Architects

Mikou Design Studio

Murman Arkitekter

Najmias Office for Architecture

NEXT Architects

P.K. Das & Associates

PHOOEY Architects

RB Arkitektur & oxygen architects

Rietveld Landscape

Rosenbergs Arkitekter

Rural Design

RVTR

ScanParks

Sena Architects

Skene Catling de la Peña

STEALTH.unlimited and Marjetica Potrc

Steven Holl Architects

Strindberg Arkitekter

Studio Tamassociati

SUPERLAB

University of Manitoba

Urban Nouveau*

Nyrens on the Architecture of Necessity

2010-04-22T07:51:00.000-07:00

Virserum Art Museum has invited four of the biggest construction and architecture consultants to contribute with features to the exhibition WOOD 2010, in conjunction with the international call for an Architecture of Necessity. Lukas Thiel is an architect at Nyrens in Stockholm, one of the four agencies that are taking part.

What are your views on the call for the Architecture of Necessity?

It is pertinent with a discussion about our future that leads to good examples and helps ease the transition towards a sustainable society. It is important to ask the questions of what is necessary, what are the social needs, and what can the future look like.

In what way will Nyréns contribute to the Architecture of Necessity?

Nyréns, in conjunction with international research and consulting firm Kairos Future, will fill four square metres with purpose. The process wil provide us with the possibility of continuing our journey towards the future, where we will not simply be manning the oars but also navigate and control the rudder. We aim to make our internal dialog a conversation to include all who are interested.

Do architects have a big responsibility when it comes to sustainable development?

Yes. The role played by the architect allows possibilites for influencing development. The architect often shoulders the job of the champion of soft values, and therefore has cause to explain the relationship between architectural quality and profitable projects. The same is the case for sustainable solutions, where the architect can function as a catalyst in a greater process involving multiple actors.

Does the Architecture of Necessity entail a compromise on form and design?

No. Throughout history, art and architecture has been shaped by our view of the world, and vice versa. We see no exception in terms of the design of a sustainable society. Most likely the challenge will be to understand the cultural differences between the existing world order centered around a western frameowork, and the emergence of new world order based on an eastern framework. We must also prepare ourselves for a more rapid rate of change in an architecture that is flexible without sacrificing the specificity.

What does the future hold for architecture?

The human environment is not a consequence of instinct, as is the case with the bird's nest or the ant hill. Instead, the built environment manifests itself in an analysis of our practical and conceptual prerequisites. We are facing major changes but the basic human conditions and character remain. The immediate future for architecture will most likely be shaped by costs and access to resources such as energy, labour, construction materials, transport, as well as growing migration to urban areas. Looking further ahead, once the world has rid itself of its dependency on fossil fuels, we might find that current issues of clean water and adequate food supply become even more challenging.

Stefan Behnisch: The beginning of a new era

2010-01-19T08:59:00.000-08:00

Stefan Behnisch is a leading figure within sustainable architecture. He has received many international distinctions including the Global Award For Sustainable Architecture 2007. Behnisch Architects will take part in WOOD 2010.

What are your views on the call for the Architecture of Necessity?

At Behnisch we think that architecture has to be responsible towards our societies and fulfil their needs. Since the early nineties we have been committed to contributing to a more sustainable built environment. A more sustainable built environment has to take into account the cultural, topographical, geographical and geopolitical background. We have always tried to achieve an innovative, more responsible architecture, an architecture that responds not only to the human needs, but also to our environmental necessities.

Does the Architecture of Necessity entail a compromise on style and form?

The answer to that question would be not now. Historically, whenever there has been a new aspect to architecture it has required, at the beginning, compromises regarding the form and architectural appearance. But once we master the subject it becomes fully included as one discipline out of many in architecture. Considering the Eiffel Tower for example. At the time it was considered a great achievement to build high buildings and towers, and here this new aspect became formally very prominent. I would argue that in the early eighties a building like say the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank marked the end of this type of structural area. Today we have new aspects to architecture such as environmental and human responsibility. There is no need for very form-driven architecture since we have very satisfying content in architecture which will dominate the appearance of all buildings. Once we master the topic of sustainable architecture, its new aspects will become part of the overall concert of architectural disciplines. So it will influence style and form - I don’t like the term style and architecture too much, though - and will demonstrate the new content in architecture and thus open up a vast new field also for formal aspects of architecture.

Do architects have responsibility when it comes to sustainability and sustainable development?

Definitely yes. Architects do have responsibility here. Considering the fact that our built environment is responsible for roughly 30 % of our energy use, this is the widest single field in our cultures and societies where we can influence sustainable development.

Is the call for an architecture of necessity relevant, what can it achieve?

It is relevant, it is a topic that has to be in everybody’s mind. We are at the beginning of a new development, a new era, where our daily life will be dominated by the acknowledgement that our planet has limited resources, that our atmosphere can no longer cope with the level of energy waste we have had in the past. So each and every move, each and every call for a more sustainable environment is necessary and helpful.

Given the lack of results of the Copenhagen Climate Summit are we running out of time to try and change our environment?

Yes, the Copenhagen Climate Summit was a huge disappointment, especially considering the fact that in the last three years more capital has been destroyed than would have been necessary to change our whole planet to a more sustainable economy. National egoisms and conservative economic considerations are still ruling politics. It is irresponsible and outright stupid. I hope that our politicians will discover very soon that a proper way of using our environmental resources is not only a burden, but also a chance. If we do not master the subject within the next few years, the costs for the following generations will be unbearable and most of our states will run the risk of going bankrupt.

Olof Thedin on the Architecture of Necessity

2009-10-27T05:55:00.000-07:00

Olof Thedin (Arkitektbolaget) is based in Växjö, Sweden and was involved in the design of Limnologen, a building that has won praise from the National Swedish Wood Construction Strategy and the Swedish Wood Construction Council.

What does the Architecture of Necessity mean to you as an architect and a community planner?

The Architecture of Necessity feels like an opportunistic combination of words. All architects would agree that architecture is necessary, but what is the architecture of necessity?
Virserum Art Museum's call states that the architecture of necessity is responsible, diligent, sustainable, just and open. As early as the middle of the 16th century Palladio formulated that “Well building hath three conditions: durability, convenience and beauty”. Convenience (responsible, just), durability (sustainable) and beauty (diligent). Why is this call needed? What is its purpose? What does it add to Palladio's four-hundred year old statement?
It would have to be the word open in that case. What is meant by open in this context?
“Architecture of necessity invites change and dialogue.” At what stage? In the program phase.
“It is open to rich and complex cultural traditions and narratives and is the physical embodiment of the democratic society.” Another truism. Surely architecture reflects all types of society, democracies and dictatorships included. Or?
“A building or a city is not something to be completed, it is something to be developed.” What does that mean? Asplund began Stockholm Public Library and the work was continued by Heike Hanada, according to the most democratic process imaginable?
“The architecture that is open to change and participation will be loved and it will have a long life.” The most loved architecture is so loved that it cannot be altered. These buildings are marked with a big Q [A Swedish classification for a type of listed building] so that no one can carry out any changes to the exterior or interior. The most current example is the Stockholm Public Library, where no one is even allowed to build in its vicinity!
So what does the Architecture of Necessity mean to me as an architect and a community planner? That Palladio's statement has been rediscovered by the author of this call.

What is the biggest challenge faced by the Architecture of Necessity?

To disseminate the insight that good architecture provides the base for a community that is sustainable in the long term, whilst the pursuit of short term gain usually results in bad architecture and a waste of resources.

Are there to be found, either in Sweden or elsewhere, examples of what could be labelled Architecture of Necessity?

A process is underway in Växjö that is slowly turning the area into a good place to live in. The jigsaw is assembled piece by piece and gradually the urban setting is transformed into a beautiful, living city. The Architecture of Necessity is the important jigsaw pieces in the building of cities that provide the framework for the appreciation of the whole.
One reason Växjö has been named the greenest city in Europe is perhaps that there is a drive towards good sustainable everyday architecture.

Fredrik von Platen on the Architecture of Necessity

2009-10-26T06:47:00.000-07:00

Fredrik von Platen is a former Director General for Boverket, the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning. He is also on the steering committee for WOOD 2010. Virserum Art Museum caught up with him to ask him a few questions and to get his reflections on the Architecture of Necessity.

What does the Architecture of Necessity mean to you as an architect and a community planner?

Our picture of the city or the dense urban area is shaped to large degree by its topography, buildings and the human enterprises that are carried out in and around those buildings. The Architecture of Necessity places demands on those of us who are responsible for planning. It asks that we think and try to find the soul of a place or the genes of a location and subsequently break its genetic code. We can do this by making use of existing physical and imaginary structures in a city, by reducing the length of transport journey and by increasing the proximity of human contacts. The aim is to build upon pre-existing resources and investments with the city boundary, as well as to avoid counterproductive social structures.

What is the biggest challenge faced by the Architecture of Necessity?

The biggest shortfall within community planing is the application of knowledge by those responsible for shaping and administering communities. All actors in the community planning and built environment sector, not least the architects, should be able to provide well-informed and capable support to developers and politicians on a variety of different issues. These issues can relate to the environment, economics and technology but also to social and behavioural science.

The building of a house or a community is not the responsibility of a single person but a teamwork, and more of a process than a project. It is great if the architect can play a leading roll based on knowledge, but it will require a significant expansion of the horizon of the average Swedish architect.

The Architecture of Necessity to me entails that we take an even greater step towards industrialised construction and gain a better understanding of the processes from the already industrialised sectors of commerce. Lean construction economises with human resources and offer prudent, smart solutions whilst reducing wastage.

Are there to be found, either in Sweden or elsewhere, examples of what could be labelled Architecture of Necessity?

The Architecture of Necessity is neither glamorous nor flashy, but can perhaps be spectacular in that it can lead to unexpected results and solutions that are devoid of paint-by-numbers thinking.

A good examples for me is the reuse of buildings for new purposes, where an existing building is reused for purposes that do not conflict with its properties, But the purpose should fit into its surroundings. Good illustrations of this are military complexes that are turned into colleges, disused airforce flotillas with airfields that become logistic centres, boiler-houses with big glass surfaces that become art spaces.

Disused municipal locations that are turned into housing and enterprise areas (for example the housing locations B093, H99 or BO01) are Swedish examples of how you can reclaim the city within its own boundaries.

A good example that I am aware of is a development project in Botswana, that further builds on knowledge of construction and habitation traditions that embrace sustainable social structures in the community and the family and combine it with tested, solid technology, borrowed from industrialised nations, that economises with finite resources and avoids deforestation.

There are already examples of projects that integrate economics and ecology based on life-cycle analysis. But it is a question of separating the wheat from the chaff. It requires the assumption that the investments do add up, and that the environmental efforts are sustainable in the long term and not merely ecological camouflage. Projects of this nature have the advantage that lesson are learned, as long as the experiences are taken to heart and provide the framework for the next process.

Appeal for an Architecture of Necessity

2009-09-30T07:35:00.000-07:00

Architecture responds to the most basic needs of human beings. It provides both protection from the elements of nature as well as spaces for passion and play. Architecture marks the threshold between nature and culture - it is humankind's foothold in the world. Architecture is the story of human lives and the development of society, of economic, social and cultural relationships.

In the media-controlled globalised society, architecture is increasingly becoming an implement for competition and the desirability of locations. Architecture becomes icons whose aim is to cause sensation. Poor city planning and property speculation result in social divisions, long journeys and waste of resources. Human construction and habitation are key causes of environmental decay and climate change. The problems are global, as is the financial crisis that has plunged the world into recession.

Architecture is today facing challenges of a magnitude that modernism faced at the beginning of the twentieth century. The thinking human being sees the necessity in taking these challenges seriously. Globalisation offers new solutions, just as the Architecture of Necessity creates new possibilities.

The Architecture of Necessity is:

Responsible
Architecture of Necessity requires insight and professional knowledge. It reflects human needs, both immediate and distant. It considers all the dimensions and consequences of architecture, even those that are not always apparent. The future of architecture lie in its constraints.

Diligent
Architecture of Necessity is properly planned, considerately executed and meticulously evaluated. The planning pays attention to experience, it answers human needs, it embeds the building into its environment and the function into the building. Attention to detail and choice of material provides a proximity for users and allows for the inclusion of those involved. The evaluation generates knowledge of the continued life of the building and of future projects. Reflection ensures a long-term economy.

Sustainable
Architecture of Necessity avoids short-term solutions. Its premise is recycling, it strives to reduce transport and takes advantage of renewable resources. The Architecture of Necessity is long term and renewable. Materials are best recycled where they already exist in a building. Architecture must economise with resources and energy and show consideration for people.

Just
Architecture of Necessity counteracts social and global divisions. It prevents segregation and slums by stimulating participation and development in suburbs and favelas. It defends architecture as the right of everybody and the architectural experience as a free utility. Society shall provide the space for both the everyday and the extraordinary experiences of human life for everybody.

Open
Architecture of Necessity invites change and dialogue. It is open to rich and complex cultural traditions and narratives and is the physical embodiment of the democratic society. A building or a city is not something to be completed, it is something to be developed. The architecture that is open to change and participation will be loved and it will have a long life.

Please spread this call!

Read about the exhibition: www.virserumskonsthall.com

Why?

2009-09-30T07:31:00.000-07:00

Since 2004 Virserum Art Museum has been arranging major exhibitions on wood and wood architecture. During the course of preparing for the next big exhibition to take place in the summer of 2010, the notion of sustainability has been an ever-present topic. The term has been so commonly used that it is in danger of losing any real meaning. We want to push the discussion about architecture, urban and social planning beyond the immediate. We need your help to do this.

Help us to disseminate the debate
In conjunction with the announcement of this call, we're launching this blog, please use it - debate, discuss and pass on the call!

Virserum Art Museum wants to showcase the Architecture of Necessity
We want to show the Architecture of Necessity. Send us information! We want text, drawings and pictures of exciting projects that fall within the remit of the call. It can be buildings, larger projects or city plans. The projects should be current or implemented within the last five years. But we are also interested in plans, ideas and visions. Submitted examples do not have to involve the use of wood, despite wood being the obvious choice of material for a country like Sweden. Participation is free!

Honourable Mention
The exhibition will take place in Virserum between May 9 and September 19, 2010, after which it will go on a tour in Sweden, Scandinavia and the rest of the world. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue, written in both Swedish and English. An international jury of architects will award honourable mentions to three outstanding contributions, to be announced in August 2010. The exhibition will be housed on the first floor of Virserum Art Museum's Paperhouse, which is Sweden's biggest continuous art exhibition space.

Virserum Art Museum
Virserum Art Museum was established in 1998 in Virserum in Småland, Southern Sweden. The community has a population of about 2,000 and is a former hub of the Swedish furniture industry. The art museum is run by a non-profit organisation with the aim of providing a public space for the narratives and experiences of ordinary people. Since 2004, Virserum Art Museum has hosted major themed exhibitions every third year on everything related to wood, with a focus on wood construction and architecture. The art museum views itself as an ecomuseum which means we are dedicated to contributing to the development of the community, not just socially, culturally and democratically, but also economically. Virserum is located in typical Swedish woodland areas and the purpose of the exhibitions has been to promote the refining of the resources of the forests, so as to create more jobs and to ensure that the renewable and CO2-binding material can contribute to an environmentally friendly development.

Virserum, September 2009
Henrik Teleman
Director, Virserum Art Museum

EMAIL the architecture of necessity to: christian@virserumskonsthall.com