METABOLIC INTERPRETATION

If you have ever found yourself questioning the frivolities of modern architecture, the Maggies Cancer Caring Centre designed by Japanese Architect Kisho Kurokawa will put these doubts to rest.

Kisho Kurokawa (1934-2007) was one of the founding fathers of the Metabolic Movement in the late 1950's.  The Metabloic Movement, born partly out of necessity following housing issues in Japan after World war II, spawned a practical avant-garde style of architectural design that has echoed through out the 20th Century and into the 21st.  

In 2007, shortly before his death, Kurokawa gifted the design of the Maggies Cancer Caring Centre in Swansea as a token of his freindship with Maggie Keswick-Jencks.  On the commissioning board, as a co-founder of Maggie's charity, sits Charles Jencks (architectural landscape designer) who's work itself rings with influences of the Metabolists.  The centre is a place for cancer patients to escape the ins and outs of the disease and it treatments in a place for counselling and relaxation.  The only work Kurokawa carried out on the project was sketch outline of the centre situated in the grounds of the Singleton Hospital.  

Kurokawa's original sketch

Following Kurokawas death Garber and James Architects  picked up the mantle of completing the design for the building, no doubt a daunting task being over-shadowed by such a legacy.  Right from Kurokawa's sketch the building offers relief from the 1970's buildings in its vicinity.  The two wings of the centre work to obscure views over to the hospital, helping visitors to forget, for a moment, their chronic affliction.  After seeing the sketch Garber and James now needed to translate the design into practical geometry and a place that fitted into Maggie's ethos.  The building unwraps from a large central space that houses facilities for relaxation or exercise at ground floor, with large amounts of natural daylight flooding through from the circular roof light and strategically placed glass screens.  At first floor the sloping wings of the building house smaller auxiliary rooms for more privacy for patients to be alone or to give the opportunity for one on one counselling.  This type of space arrangement is reminiscent of traditional Japanese Minka houses, these houses often included 

a large space in the middle for cooking and communal family 

activities with the sloping roof providing smaller private spaces for 

washing or bedrooms.  

The external appearance of the building stays true to the Metabolist's concrete aesthetic, constructed from pre-cast concrete panels that had to be precisely constructed off site, unintentionally are as complex and accurate as the geometric design itself.  The surface of the concrete is dotted with triangular cast-in shapes similar to that of a drawing convention hatch for concrete.  The sloping curved roof is constructed from a twisted steel ridge beam creating a spine in which to construct the rest of the roof.  Hanging from the spine are windows that, along with the roof, tapper into nothing.  The external landscaping offers a translation of a minimalistic Japanese Zen Garden furthering to the relaxing connotations. 

After four years of design and construction work Garber and James Architects have recieved well deserved acclaim for the building.  Not only is it a successful practical space for the users of the building but the architectural design stays true to a man who's architectural design work is influenced by human conditions.

Follow this link to learn more about Maggies charity and its centres

Follow this link to see more photographs and information on the project

AIRING OUT THE NATIONAL THEATRE

This is my first post on my blog and I thought I would write about something/someone I admire and how architectural legacies can, if done well,be enhanced.

The National Theatre 1976.

I have walked past the National Theatre numerous times and have been inside on a few occasions, I have always appreciated its brutal elegance but it wasn't until I worked on a scheme at The University of East Anglia a couple of years ago (and through numerous visits to the campus) that I came to fully appreciate the work of one of its Architects Sir Denys Lasdun (1914 - 2001).  Lasdun worked along side Architect Peter Softley and utilised his unique style that allowed him to create huge monolithic like concrete buildings that would, in detail, become elegant.  I feel this is especially true of the National Theatre, located next to the River Thames in the South Bank area of London where it has sat completed since 1976.  The building  is passed by thousands of people everyday and has become one of the iconic land marks of central London.   

The National Theatres at night
following the lighting revamp.

It must be hard to produce a scheme for a building that is so well known and loved by people all over the world as well as the daily occupants of the building.  The first well needed refurbishment was in the late 1990's to suit the theatres changing needs for the 21st century,  the National Theatre underwent its first facelift with Stanton Williams wielding the scalpel.  The building, at that time, needed bringing back to life, it was perhaps seen as a derelict dead end to the riverwalk.  The Stanton Williams scheme removed circulation for vehicles around the building and rearranged the entrance and facilities within the building, giving it a less formal feel and helping to integrate the structure more into the everyday activities along the South Bank.  The external spaces were totally re-landscaped and a new internal and external lighting scheme changed the night time appearance of the theatre.  Glazed panels ate up some of the external space to create the bookshop and form Theatre Square at the South Bank entrance.  Overall the Stanton Williams refurbishment worked very well and stayed courteous to the buildings 1967 design.  There were originally plans to eradicate one of the concrete terraces of the building but following outcry from the architectural community and objections from Lasdun himself, these were quashed.

The proposed glazed extension to the south facade.

Now as we climb ever higher up the ladder of the 21st century the National Theatre is to be refurbished again by Hawthorn Tompkins Architects.  This time a new glazed extension is to be added to the south for educational spaces and a masterplan remodel of the entrance and internal levels to adapt the building as it becomes ever busier.  More glass brings the public further into a building that, from some angles, has a fortress like appearance.  Hawthorn and Tompkins have a reputation (with an as-built portfolio to back it up) of keeping as much of an original building as is possible for adaptation.  However their job has been made a little easier by the forward thinking of Lasdun.  Lasdun would use brick, instead of concrete, in places that he saw possible room for extension and adaptation in the future.  The street level south facade of the building  is built from engineering brick and incorporates only small slit windows making the construction of any extension a more copable task.  Alas long time supporters of the building will no doubt reservedly be up in arms about any new refurbishment taking place but as we travel further into the exploration of arts and diversity change needs to be embraced in the spaces that this exploration takes place.

Follow this link for more photos/information.