Research

GREEN SPACE

Thinking in a garden is an essential activity. What is a green space, if not for slowness? - Charles Jencks, interviewed in the Italian magazine

Many Contemporary parks have expanded their primary functions and incorporated zoos, athletics, boating, manege, outdoor theatres or concert shells, restaurants, even memorials. And other garden types, like botanical gardens, arboreta, sites for olympic games and sculpture gardens. - Galen Cranz, The politics of Park Design

59 Four Freedoms Park, Roosevelt Island, New York City

I.M.Pei Suzhou, 87 courtyard Garden at suzhou museum: Inner courtyards of chinese garden forms abstracted from the outside world; zigzag pathways over ponds represents mountain peaks against white walls depicting the sky.

88 Francisco Caldeira Cabral, gardens of Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon 1960s

CAMPUSES

- The term campo, means a school playground, Latin: 'campus' .

CAMPUS IN MARLY-LE-ROI by Maud Caubet

On the 30,000 sq.m campus of La Colline Marly, our agency has carried out a study of repositioning and valorisation of the site oriented towards biophilia for the account of York and Stam Europe. In this context, we checked the feasibility of an 10 000 sq.m extension with fitted roofs. Coworking spaces, catering, a lounge room, patios opened to the outside… this new building extends campus activity away from the old offices and blurs the boundaries between outdoor and indoor. Playing on natural materials and mirror games with the choice of a combination of wood, glass and aluminium, this extension draws users a path for both a physical and contemplative new walk inside the buildings

Quite an elegant designs that looks to blur the boundaries within indoors and outdoors. The circular seating area also came to remind me of Noah's talk about story-telling and reconnection with others as his response from the city of bits.

Van Eyck's playground designs, playful elements in the urbanscape.

SKYLIGHTS AND WINDOWS

WINDOWS - SKY FRAMES

In Renaissance, Baroque architecture, the dome (oculi) is the central focus that brings the sky down into the interior space. When translated to contemporary designs, these skylights are brought in through a more naturalistic and objective way. Early modernist Alvar Aalto's work utilised the skylights to celebrate light as a piece of 'found' nature.

Andrew Berman, Whitespace Studios.

IL Kim, architect, The white box.

Steven Holl Architects, Sarphistraat offices in Amsterdam: the skylights accentuate the space as a random composition of colour and light.

Raphael Moneo, Cathedral of Our lady: a window folds up into the ceiling and becomes a skylight. (potentials for maker spaces, or Study Pods)

More Steven Holl works: Simmons Hall, MIT Cambridge, Massachusetts - Organic formed skylight bringing light down. Random organic holes cut through the canopy.

SHADOWS - Shadows creates drama and accentuates the presence of light or lack of. Shadow also conveys a sense of time through the movement of its source of light; the Sunlight which moves from East to West through the day.

Herzog and De Meuron Dominus Winery: Light filtered through the stone gabions

ZENITHAL LIGHT: SPACE AND FORM

In the interior of the building, the architect has the choice to mould the light to suit his choice. Light is non dependent on nature, but the forms of the building. Light is a powerful tool that changes the sense and quality of the space. Light is the medium which reveals spatial quality; we recognise it through sight and the apparent is what informs our senses.

Side note: After listening to Chris Downey's experience from visual deprivation, it would be interesting to explore how the spatial sense is relayed through the lack of sight. Through engaging with other senses, i.e sound, how sound's longitudnal waves are refracted, diffracted and reflected to relay the spatial information to its recipient. If the blind experiences space through his primary sensory medium which is sound, how does the acoustics of a space translate that imagery as light would do for us.

Light empowers a space, offering a comtemplative quality.

David Adjaye - Art Pavilion, Island of San lazzaro degli Armeni, venice, italy.

Light as an installation work - James Turrel.