Download Patkau Architects — The 1995 John Dinkeloo

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© 1995 The University of Michigan
College of Architecture+ Urban Planning
& Patkau Archi tects
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•
I
John Dinkeloo graduated from this college in 1942 and is one of its most
distinguished alumni. In many ways, he epitomized the kind of education and
talents of wh ich t he college has been proud and which we are still keen to
encourage. John Dinkeloo was an architect, an outstand in g designer, and a
student of materials. He was the author of a number of sign ificant arch itectural
inventions of the latter part of this cent ury including the neoprene gasket and
severa l different types of glass, and he experimented with the use of Corten
and exposed steel.
john Dinkeloo worked as a young architect in Eero Saa rinen's office and later
as a partner with Kevin Roche in the firm Roche Dinke loo. He was an imaginative
creator, who worked on major projects of great sign ificance wh ich have inspired
architects throughout the world: the Ford Foundation, the Oakland Museum,
the john Deere Headquarters, and many others.
The John Dinkeloo Memorial Lecture is a milestone in our academic year. This
lecture se ries began in 1984, three years after t he untime ly death of John Dinkeloo.
It is generously supported by an endowment from faculty and friends, and with the
help ofThelma Dinkeloo, John's widow. The Dinkeloo Lectures have brought to
this college some of the most important architects working in practice tod ay.
The speakers, selected for their commitment to design technology and the art
of making buildings, have included Kevin Roche, Fay Jones, Richard Meier, Thorn
Mayne, Michael McKinnell, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien , to name just a few.
I am pleased to introduce a young Canadian architect, John Patkau of Patkau
Architects in Vancouver who will deliver the 1995 Dinkeloo Memorial Lecture.
John and Patricia Patkau pursued the ir undergraduate stud ies at the University
of Man itoba. john graduated with a Masters degree from Man itoba in 1972,
andl Patricia with a Masters from Yale in 1978. They founded their partnership
in Edmonton in 1978 and moved to Vancouver in 1984.
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The Patkaus are particularly inspiring in that they are young architects who are
deve loping arch itectural theory through practice. In an increasingly homogenized
world, theirs is an arch itecture which searches ou t the particular, whether it be in
the site, the history of the place, or in the program of the building. The exploration
of these issues is clearly evident in their drawings and models, and perhaps most
importantly in their completed bu ildin gs.
This document is a record of the 1995 Dinkeloo Memorial Lecture. It focuses on
three of the most recent projects designed by the Patkaus which are sign ificant
because they represent three different types of work: a civic building of national
importance which was built following a successful design competition, a house,
and an award-winning public school which is currently under construction.
Kenneth !Frampton, writi ng about the Patkaus' work, recently observed! that:
"john and Patricia Patkau are two young Canadian architects whose achievements
are all the more refreshing because of their discretely tectonic character. The
quality of thi s work suggests once again that we would do well to turn our
attention to th e periphery if we would wish to find our way back to more
measured and sensitive forms of arch itectura l practice.'"
On behalf of the College, I am delighted to welcome the architect john Patkau.
Brian Carter
Professor & Chair of Architecture
I greatly admire the buildings of John Dinke loo and believe that he was, above all,
an architect who struggled to master his craft through practice. Coincidentally, our
projects are very much the work of practicing architects who are struggling in the
same way. I am honored to be invited to deliver the 1995 Dinkeloo Memorial Lecture.
Although my partner Patricia and I are very interested in architect ural theory
and attempt to place our work in the context of a rigorously argued theo retical
discussion, t his presentation will not center on issues of theory directly- it will
center on issues of practice. This is because, un li ke many architects who are
interested in theoretical issues, we did not come to t his interest as a result of an
early career in teaching. We did not develop our ideas in an academ ic setting and
then enter into practice to implement these ideas. Until recently we have been
iso lated from the academic environment and restricted to explori ng our ideas
through practice. As a resu lt, ou r ideas have emerged very slow ly. We were not
ab le to sit down and consolidate a body of knowledge, put forward a platform
and execute it. It has been a struggle, as it is for most practicing architects, to
find a way from one pr.oject to the next , to understand what we are doi ng, and
to somehow bu ild on that to find some form of mat ure expressio n.
Architect ure is an itine rant profession for the young and I moved to Alberta in the
late sevent ies because it was an oil boom econom y which offered tremendous
oppo rtun ities for architects. After only two years of experience in another
architect's office I was ab le to become registered. The re was no NCARB, no
ora l exam ination; I simp ly logged my time and became an architect. Immediately
upon bei ng registered , I opened our pract ice in Edmonton . Pat joined me fro m
Ya le, together with one ot he r fellow who had a techn ica l background. It was a
nightmare. We learned t he hard way by making mistakes, and t he experience
has shaped us to t his day. Out of the struggle to learn by se lf-teach ing, we
came t o have a t remendo us respect fo r the craft of architect ure, for maki ng.
Because we were on our own, we had never been exposed to all of th e knowledge
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requ ired to actua lly constru ct a building. We knew how to compose a drawing,
but there is a substantial gap between composing a drawing and construct ing
a build ing. That learning process has marked our work and marks to this day a
profound respect for the making of buildings, not simply building as the
manifestation of theoretical ideas.
We began to find ou r way with the design of the Pyrch House. The house is literally
the shape of the property, centered about a giant mound of rock. By lowering
the main space be low th at rock, t he extremely mediocre and conventiona l
development of " Tudo r-Bavarian" houses alongside is complet ely obscured.
Because of th e geometry of the site, the rock stands between t he eye and the
neighboring houses below. All that can be seen is the ocean beyond, a pure
and powerful landscape distilled from th e rock and the existi ng t rees on that
particular site. The configurat ion of t he house ensured that it became a largely
mut e participant allowing these natura l elements to speak.
Our intuitive startin g point was to seek those t hin gs that were particu lar to
the project and center our arch itectural response around them. We came to
describe this sea rch as a sea rch for 'found potent ial' -those aspects of site,
climate, buildi ng context, program, or loca l cu lture, fo r example, that will fac ilitate
the developme nt of an arch itectural order which is evocative of circumstance.
9
In 1983 - a time of crisis in the oil industry-the economy in Alberta was
devastated. Our practice was destroyed. We relocated to Vancouver and started
again by building a house for ourselves. The site we· could afford was within a
steeply sloping, heavi ly forested ravine. Having spent most of our lives on the
Canadian prairies which are characterized by bright blue skies and year round
sunshine, we were especially concerned because, in this deep ravine, the sun
was lost early in the day.
Two things inspired the design and were consistent with our growing interest in
found potential: the nature of the site and the climate. The terrain was so steeply
sloping that it was difficult to get around. As a result we conceived of th e hou se as
a bridge connecting the various levels of the site. The design was also conditioned
by a need for light. In Vancouver everyth ing is sun-seeking. Anything which stands
between you and the sun is undesirable. Our response was to make one-third of
the roof of glass and to place all of the majo r openings on the south side. The
house was shaped by these concerns. This experience began to confirm the value
of seeking out responses that emphasized the particular qualities of the place.
10
The App leton House, designed in 1985 for a site on Victoria Island,, was,for a young
family with three small children . They showed us photographs of lofts in New York
and industrial buildings and said, "This is the house that we want." The materiality
of th e images t hey showed us was completely impossible on their budget. The
on ly thing which was feasible was wood frame construction, and so we decided
to try to transform wood frame constru ction to represent the more substantia l
qualities of the images they had se lected.
We began by organ izing the plan about a single large two-story room. All other
rooms were simply placed in a lin e behind t his large space. Within the large room
we created a few elements wh ich we came to call 'totemic' elements. Our idea was
to keep most parts of the house to conventional proportions. In th e context of
this normal world we introduced one giant room, one giant column and one giant
fireplace. These totem ic figures, even though made of conventiona l construction,
were t o stand for the robust material and arch itectural presence which the clients
had described.
Fo r Seab ird Island School, t he found potential was revea led in studies of both
the site andl the client. Th is school for a Salish Indian Bandl is on a large delta in
the middle of the Fraser River at the point where the river valley disappears into
t he coastal mountain range . The site is an agricultural area with large fields and
a wooded perimeter where the ind ividua l dwe llings of the band members are
located . To the sou th of th e site the re is a modest town center, au-shaped
configu ration of bu ildin gs loose ly grouped around a small gree n.
Given the opport unity to bui ld on t his site, we chose to locate the build ing close
to other community bui ldings. This is an obvious move but an especially important
one for this commun ity. The aboriginals of western Canada - much as in the United
States - have suffered t remendously as a result of t he imperialism t hat European
culture has imposed upon them . Our clien t rep resented a dying culture in which
only a few elders still speak the Salish language. It was a community in disarray
with many social problems. Th is school represented a ma jor opportunity for the
band. It was to be t he ir most significant resource and their largest commun ity
faci lity. They we re to co nstruct the bui lding themselves, and so it also represented
an expression of thei r communa l will. The school would teach t he ch ildren t he
language t hat t heir parents had not learned. It wou ld be understood not as an
institution but as a way of passing on knowledge with in an extended family.
The school is organized in a familial manner. The classrooms are placed along a
porch which faces sou t h to t he existin g comm unity cente r. All of the doorways
are directly accessible ont o th is porch which is a publi c space. Membe rs of t he
community can ente r directly into the classrooms, take part in lessons and teach
the children. The ch ildren likewise have immed iate access to the out doors where
there are teach ing ga rdens and sa lmon drying racks along the porch. Spaces
within the bu ild ing are organ ized in a comp letely open way so that there is no
hierarchica l separation between teachers, parents and students. These facilities,
wh ich are important community spaces, can be used as intensively after hours
as during the school day.
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12
We were told by members of the band th at the orthogonal configuration of the
residential schools which they had attended in the past-which had been
instruments of cu ltu ra l genocide-was completely unacceptable to them. So
we attempted to make a building which did not have these characteristics.
Instead the bu ildin g is irregular and , in a naive sense, more natural. It is more
like a landscape or the interior of a forest.
Our first perception of this flat site surrounded by mountains was that it was
almost room-li ke in character. Any large bu ilding within this vast room would
necessarily take on a figural quality by virtue of the defining mountain s around it,
a figural quality which we thought might somehow be suggestive to our clients.
The bu ild ing began to assume a zoomorphic character which has proved to be
significant for the band. They have come to see it as a creature, some as a fish
and some as a bird. As a result, the building has ach ieved a level of sign ificance
within th eir community which in some ways is not open to us.
The schoo l was built by the members of the band who had no construction
experience. They did not know that the building was difficu lt but merely said,
"Fine, we'll bui ld it". We constructed a large-scale detailed framing model as
a part of our working drawings. The model went to site and was a reference
throughout the construction of the school. When they could not figure something
out they checked the model. This was the first building of any substance that they
had undertaken; the workmanship is very good and they had no difficulty doing it.
It was a remarkable experience .
The buildings we have designed subsequently have become increasin gly
explicit about the way in whi ch they are made. The materials relate strongly to
the narrative of the bui lding and to the significance of the parts of the bu ilding.
The richness of the space is developed directly out of an expression of how the
space is constructed. This is part of a larger idea regard ing our interest in t he
particular, and how this interest is manifested through differentiation; whether
that be differentiation of one place from another, or differentiation within the
materials and construction of a bui lding.
The !Newton Library explores two ideas about architectural construction : the
tectonic expression of building with concrete columns and wood beams, and,
on the other hand, an idea of clad construction where volumes are defined by
surfaces like dry wall and stucco.
The library becomes almost schizophren ic in character. Each of the two personalities
of the building struggles to dominate. The light absorbing exposed construction
on one side contrasts with the light reflecting clad construction on the other. At
some points, the clad constru ction threatens to completely engulf the wood . At
other IPOints where there is a lot of light, near edges or at entrances for example,
the tectonic wood construction dominates.
In the development of our work we have initiated a seri es of models designed
for our own use after the build ings are completed. They are never shown to
the clients but are purely resea rch models made to t ry to understand more
clearly the formal vocabulary of the language that we have been bu ildin g.
These mode ls are not part of the design process of the project itse lf but part
of a larger, ongoing process. For example, the model of the Clay and Glass Gallery,
a fragment extracted from the middle of th e bui ld ing, explores the representation
of bu ilding assemblies. Roofs and walls are made up of many layers peeled away
to reveal the composite nature of the construction .
13
14
~-II
The research model for Newton Library attempts to reveal
15
the two ideas that we used to design the building. We built the model
in two parts, one part being more expressive of the static, enclosing
nature of clad construction, andl the other more exp ressive of
the dynamic, vigorous nature of tectonic construction. In
retrospect, I do not think the model successfu lly differentiates
these opposite qualities within the building - research
sometimes fails. However, after we finished the model, we real ized that
we had accomplished! somethin g that had frustrated us at the beginning
of the !Project: the inability to develop the section in ground plane.
Because of security and the need for handicapped accessibility, it
was required that the floor of the build in g be abso lutely flat wi th
no changes of level. We had previously utilized a changing
ground plane as an important part of our architectu ral
vocabulary. When we had completed thi s library model,
we suddenly realized! that we had discovered the ground and had
excavated the ground in a way that had not been possible in the
real bui ldin g.
As well as eva luating bui lt !Projects, the models are used to _ _ __u..___ _ ___u._ _ _ __ _L:..,at~~
exp lore compositiona l ideas. They deal not only with ideas that are in the bu ildings,
but with new ideas such as the concentration of elements and the fragment ing of
perimeters. These studies are used in an arbitrary and imposed way to inform
~
subsequent work and to enrich its characteristic arch itectural expression. If
you look at certain elements of the models of th e Oay and Glass Gallery and of
the,!Newton Library which we bu ilt later, you can see that we were transforming
purely formal ideas and utilizi ng them in the context of new projects. The models
enable us to begin to understand how our ideas might lead to a more ,evocative,
expressive architecture.
In 1986 we were invited to participate in a nationa l competition fo r a clay and glass
gallery which was to be located in Waterloo, Ontario. Because there were only
eight architects competing it was a wonderful opportun ity.
The competition site was across t he street from a large Seagram disti llery and the
Seagram Museum, a sign ificant inst itution which houses the arch ives and artifacts
of the worldwide hold ings of the company. Even though our site was at the edge of
a sma ll town we had at least one neighbor to which we could respond. There was
also a lake-or a small wei r ca lled Silve r Lake-wh ich was the beginning of a park
system connecting downtown to the university.
The site plan resu lts from an analys is of that situation . The first notion was to use
the bu ilding in conjunct ion with the Seagram Museum and Silver Lake to begin to
define a rec reat ional and cultu ral precinct wh ich wou ld be complementa ry to the
civic center at Waterloo. The two would form boo kends defi ning t he extent of t he
town cen ter.
We suggested creating a space organized about exist ing t hings: two towers and
a pyram id of wh iskey ba rrels at Seagram's - wh ich is actually a beautiful thing and a water feature which we proposed in order to celebrate the po int at wh ich the
water of Silver Lake disappea red into a culvert to flow under the town. With those
three elements we suggested that there might be an essentially t riangu lar public
space. The gallery was to be organ ized to define one edge of t hat space.
The pyramid of barre ls and t he water sculpture that celebrated the disappearance
of water were very much like the column and firep lace in the App leton House totemic elements wh ich were an arch itectural intensification in an ot herwise
banal context.
18
Because the budget was-like all budgets-limited, we decided to make economy
of means an important IPart of our strategy. We !Proposed essentially warehouseli ke spaces. With in those generic spaces, special intensified architectural
elements would be inserted: a row of fire columns representative of th e fire that
is the transformation of both clay and glass; a courtya rd for the exhibition of large
scale sculptures; a drum for the archives; and a tower for the disp lay of large scale
stained glass work. These were the t otemic elements within the generic plan that
were intended to activate that plan and, in a sense, allow li mited resources to
speak powerfu lly withi n an otherwise conventional context.
El
El
El
An important aspect of the program was a request for a glass-blowing studio.
This was to be the first of a series of different studios which would demonstrate
the making of different forms of clay and glass art. Artists would be invited to use
these stud ios as part of the activities of the gallery. The presence of a studio within
the gallery allowed us to address certain aspects of the nature of the gallery as an
institution. Also, by making the storage of the collection visible from the central
space of the gallery, we were able to make the process from making, to collecting,
to dis playing art more explicit. In doing this, we hoped that the visitor would
somehow be ab le to understand that, in addition to the work of the artist, there
are many layers of cultural judgment which are applied to art before it gets to a
gallery space. Work in a gallery is highly qualified by many sets of values that are
overlaid upon it subsequent to the creation of the work of art. This is, I think, an
important understanding which is generally not recognized . The majority of
people who visit art galleries view art as if it is t ransparent, but it is in fact
carefully controlled and presented under very restricted circumstances.
We won the competiti on but were not commissioned to proceed with the design
of the gallery until1988. With the federal election about to be called, funds
miraculously became available . However, due to galloping inflation the projectwhich had been just about feasible at the time we won the competition-was
clearly now not feasible. The budget was fixed , and so we found that we had to
redesign substantially in order to enable the scheme to go ahead.
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20
The building area had to be reduced by a third in order to meet the new budget.
It was decided that the long-term program of studio building would be abandoned
and that the museum would restrict its activities to exhibition. The loss of the
glass blowing studio had a huge impact on the design. One of the fundamental
ideas of that original design was the exposition of the process from making,
through collecting, to displaying art. With the studios gone, that generative
idea was destroyed. We had to rethink not only the size of the bui lding, but also
fundamenta l ideas about its nature.
During the time between winning the competition and securing the commission,
we had come to the conclusion that the conventional modern gallery which is
characterized by white walls, no expression of construction, and no natural light
represented a completely abstract world cut off from all context. This isolation of
art was something that we felt might be challenged.
We developed a couple of strategies which wou ld allow us to build a bridge
through the building from the art that was being displayed to the lives of the
people who would be coming to see it. The first of th ese strategies was the use of
natural light. Because this gallery is for clay and glass, the problem of ultraviolet
degradation does not exist. We took advantage of this opportunity to exploit
natural light in a variety of ways so that the daily cyole and the seasons are
made evident in the build ing. More importa ntly, something that we came to
understand between the competition and the final building is that stained
glass is not intended to be seen in an artificially lit environment. It is predicated!
on changing natural light.
G
..
~
Main Floo r Plan
fire columns
entry vestibule
lobby
information and ticket desk 4
cloakroom 5
gift shop 6
tea room
main gallery
tower gallery
small works gallery 10
courtyard gallery 11
demonstration and adjudication 12
support facilities 13
me.chanical and electrical room
14
The second thing which emphasizes the connection between the building, the art
22
and the gallery users is the craft of making. The building is clearly legible in this
respect and is therefore brought within the range of normal experience, much like
the craft of making the artifacts on display. In this context, it might be possible for
people to relate more strongly to the craft of making art and come to understand
·.
that art is not exclusively contained within the domain of a gallery or of an elite.
THE FIRE COLUMNS ARE
INTENDED TO BE A HYBRID
Consequently, this building is explicit about the way it is made. The materials
relate strongly to the story of the building and to the significance of the parts.
The basic structure consists of wood roof and floor decks supported by steel
ARCHITECTURAL
&
ARTISTIC
EXPRESSION OF THE FIRE
THAT IS THE ORIGIN OF
CLAY AND GLASS ART.
beams which bear upon concrete block walls. The exterior is clad in the industrial
red brick characteristic of the area. The brick represents the addition of layer
upon layer, the method of modern construction. There are subordinate elementslike the canopy which has yet to receive its glass, or the entry loggia which is
made of wood, the most tenuous of all materials. These materials are assembled
THE CONCRETE SHELLS ARE
ARMATURES SUPPLIED WITH
ELECTRIC AND GAS SERVICES.
THESE TOTEMIC ELEMENTS
together to form a clear vocabulary and rigorous hierarchy of building materials.
Finally, the totemic elements - the fire columns, the stained glass tower, the
small works gallery and the courtyard -are made of reinforced concrete to
represent their primacy. Concrete is the most durable, as well as most difficult
of construction materials.
ARE TO BE DEVELOPED
The totemic elements are further elaborated. The idea of the courtyard, for
BEYOND THE ARCHITECTURE
example, was not only to make the composite nature of building construction
WH ICH IS TH ERE AT PRESENT
TO BECOME A MORE DYNAMIC
AND REPRESENTATIVE
explicit, it was to make this composite nature poetic. The courtyard is constructed
of two layers of concrete walls. In various areas, one or the other of the layers of
concrete is pulled away and a tile layer is introduced that is representative of the
interstitial layers of insulation and air and vapor barriers. On top of that, a wood
EXPRESSION OF WHAT
IS GOING ON INSIDE
THE BUILDING.
trellis is added which is reminiscent of the formwork required for the casting of
the concrete. The richness of the space is developed directly out of an expression
of how the space is constructed.
L
The Barnes House, completed in 1994, is located at the edge of an open rocky
outcrop on a forested five-acre site which overlooks the Strait of Georgia and
the mainland of British Columbia to the north and the rocky shoreline of Vancouver
Island to the northwest. It is a site with diverse qualities-a textural, intimate
quality of immediate contact with rock, tree bark and grass together with a
distant view of the sea and the mainland beyond.
We attempted to design a house that would make this variety of landscape
experience more evident. Here, the site is understood to be not only the rocky
outcrop upon which the house is situated and has surrounding vegetation, but the
entire region which is visible from the site. In this context the house has been
designed as a landscape focusing device-a mechanism through which
the experience of this place, from the small scaled textural characteristics of
the rock to the large scaled expanse of the sea, is made manifest. To do this, we
placed the house in what seemed to us at the time a very odd location. We found
a depression in the rock and sank the house into it so that the lower floor is
embedded within the rock. From the street and the lower parts of the site, the
house is entered without being aware that there is a panoramic view of the ocean
beyond. Adjacent to the entrance are two windows which are at floor level. They
are only four feet high. These windows focus on a view of the rock which is only
just outside the glass. Turning at the top of the stairs up to the main floor of the
house, the panoramic view of the entire region is revealed. The hou se connects
one part of the site to another.
28
fOR THE MOST PART
THE SHEll OF THE HOUSE
The lower part of the house is a st udio for the owners - an amateur sculptor and
a landscape arch itect. The upper floor is their livin g quarters. It is a simple house
with a few rooms and a terrace. The house takes on many different qualities.
I S COMPRISED OF
Within, th e inhabitants are someti mes below grade and sometimes above grade.
CONVENTIONAl WOOD
FRAMING, STUCCO ClAD,
ON A REINFORCE.D CONCRETE
One sid e of the house is in th e forest, the other side within the clearing. The side
of the house that faces the clearing is obviously composed using very simple
shapes. The forested sid e has a st range, almost weak shape which is intentionally
submissive to allow the vegetation which surrounds the house at this point to be
GRADE BEAM FOUNDATION.
THREE CONCRETE COlUMNS
RISE WITHIN THIS VOlUME
TO SUPPORT A HEAVY
TIMBER ROOF STRUCTURE.
flOORS ARE GENERAllY
the dom inant element. On one side the house is recessive, and on the oth er side
it is assertive.
Consistent with our interests to deve lop the particular characteristics of things
we have increasingly sought to reveal the in herent differences in the nature of
materials. Concrete is massive and steel is t ensile and linear. A stee l canopy,
over a window, is only three-e ighths of an inch thick but cantilevers thirteen feet
as a result of a sha llow curve which gives it an arch shape and slender ribs on the
EXPOSED CONCRETE,
underside which are someth in g like the ribs of the mouth.
EITHER AS SlAB-ON-GRADE
Increasingly we have come to particul arize the various characteristics of each
IN THE lOWER lEVEl
project and the vari ous materials and components within each building. Th is
OR AS A TOPPING ON
house, unl ike th e early houses which were more generic in qua lity, begins to
WOOD FRAMING IN THE
MAIN lEVEl
bring more explicit architectura l express ion into the development of details.
\.
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l:
0
!---------
31
10
Legend
entry
studio
bathroom
guest room
living room
master bedroom
dining room
kitchen
utility room
terrace
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
barbeque u
fire pit 12
STEEL IS USED AS A
32
COUNTERPOINT TO THE
MONOLITHIC CONCRETE
AND STUCCO CLAD WOOD
FRAMING , AS ELABORATED
CONNECTIONS BETWEEN
CONCRETE AND HEAVY
TIMBER, AS RAILINGS AT
STAIRS AND AS A CANOPY
OVER THE ENTRANCE AND
LARGE WINDOW FACING
NORTHWEST. THIS CANOPY,
WH ICH IS MADE OF
10 MILLIMETERS THICK
STEE L PLATE, CANTILEVERS
3.7
METERS OVER THE
OPEN I NGS IT SHELTERS .
Strawberry Vale School is currently under construction in the outskirts of Victoria.
Th is project deals with a subject that has been imp licit in our work from the very
beginning: the relationship between the man-made and the natural. The distinction
between the man -made and the natural, upon which much of our architectural
heritage is based, is losing its significance. As surely as the forces of nature act
upon our buildings, we work upon the natural world. Gravity, rain and snow, wind ,
changes in temperature, plant and animal life, all act to reduce buildings to their
material constituents. At the same time , through the act of building, we work upon
the natural world at both the relatively small scale of the building site as well as
the relatively large scale of resource extraction, processing, manufacture and
transportation. It is no longer clear whether anything is truly natural or truly man-made.
As a result of the increasing continu ity between the natural and the man-made,
our cu ltura l traditions need to be re -examined . Both classicism and modernism
are based upon the distinction between the natura l and the man-made - whether
that be the humanist trad ition within classicism where architecture is understood
to be a representation of 'man' as the measure of the world that is other or
whether it be the abstract tradition with in modern ism where architecture is
understood to be a manifestation of pure form juxtaposed to a world that is other.
If the distinction between the man-made and the natural is losing significance,
these cultural traditions within which we work have to be, if not questioned, then
enriched and expanded .
Clearly, while architecture is the product of human thought and work it also
is affected by and increasingly affects the envi ronment within wh ich it exists.
In many ways what seems to be missing from both classicism and modernism,
understood in th is manner, is evident in the subtle environmental adjustment
characteristic of vernacular architecture.
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The design of the Strawberry Vale Schoo l attempts to pursue a line of
investigation which not only acknowledges our cultural tradition s but, inspired
by the vernacular, also gives architectural form to environmental forces.
There have been two schoo ls on this site: the present school, and a one-room
school built in 1893. We began by taking the original school and relocating it
at the point of entry to the site. The present school will be demolished, with the
exception of the foundations which will define play spaces and teaching gardens.
The site therefore becomes a historical record of the schools in the area-the old
schoo l, the present schoo l, and the new schoo l.
At the same time, the site is developed so as to mitigate the impact of construction
on the site. For examp le, rainwater run-off from t he build ing is collected in trenches
and runs along a swale to collect in a marsh. Plants planted by students will clean
the water before it re-enters the groundwater. The materials of the building have
been carefully selected to minim ize embodied energy and toxicity.
The community to be served by this school conside rs itself to be 'semi-rural'
in character. A strong and present relationship to the natural world plays an
important part in the cultural and educational objectives of thi s community.
To this end all classrooms are oriented toward the south to optimize potential
natural illumin ation within the interior as well as to maximize visual connection
to an adjacent woodland. Furthermore, all classrooms are located on-grade
providing direct access to the out-of-doors and the possibility of an extended
program of teaching. This not only maintains a small scale consistent with the
neighborhood of single-family dwellings but also attempts to establish a
positive reciprocity in the definition of woodland and schoolyard .
To locate classrooms in thi s way, and keep the school within the site, classrooms
are grouped into pods of fou r. This creates a series of 'in -between' spaces which
are both interior and exterior, which may be used by individ uals or small groups
from adjacent classrooms.
A meandering circulation spine provides access to each pod of classrooms as
well as the library, administration offices, gymnasium, and other support faci lities.
The irregu lar configuration creates furth er sma ll-scale common spaces within
which a wide variety of activities, both spontaneous and planned, may occur.
The creation of these non-programmed 'in-between' spaces creates an overlap
between classrooms, and between classrooms and other facilities, which not
only augments the capabilities of individual classrooms but also establishes
an intermediate scale and provides an architectural basis for the creation of
a greater sense of community within the school.
Within the construction of the school, large spans are framed in stee l because the
sizable members that would be required to span using wood would require first
growth material. Elsewhere, small scale wood construction, th e vernacular of the
west coast, is used with exposed fram ing.
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40
Computer analysis of the building has located skylights and clerestory windows
to maximize natural light. The lighting system is controlled by sensors which turn
off lights automatically when daylight provides adequate illumination within the
spaces. In classrooms, drywall has been added where reflectivity is required to
increase illumination. In areas with a lot of ambient natural light, the dry wall
has been stripped away to reveal the underlying construction. This creates a
clear distinction between exposed construction and clad construction .
The circulation spine contains the major ducting which provides air to all of
the classrooms. We were told, "Don't give us exposed ducts. Ducts are only
interesting to architects." Consequently, in the classrooms, where the students
and teachers spend most of their time, ceilings are clad to create a luminous
interior and to obscure the mechanical system. In areas such as the circulation
spine, ductwork is exposed for practical and didactic reasons. We want the
students to begin to understand how a building is made-that there is a
structure and a mechanical system.
The roof, too, has been shaped in a strong response to topography and climate.
The site steps down, and the roof breaks to follow the slope of the site. The finishing
of the roof is in two parts. The parts over interior spaces which are insulated are
expressed as a heavy ribbed construction which is raised to acknowledge the
thickness required for the insulation whilst the overhangs are thinner and are
clad with smooth steel which is expressive of the absence of insulation.
The design of Strawberry Vale School acknowledges the manner in which buildings
are normally made: a steel frame is quickly erected, things are tacked onto that
frame, and layers of finishes added. In this case, layers of finishes are added
judiciously-only where they play a more positive role rather than merely to dress
rough construction. Nevertheless if you look closely at the design you will see that
we have not always been rigorous in adopting this conventional strategy. We may
not yet be sensitive enough to the necessities of building in a construction industry
based on conventional practices. Some of the millwork in the school precedes the
glazing and even some of the framing. The only possible sequence of assembly is
to bring the millwork into the building at an unusually early stage of construction.
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Unlike a house or other small building which can be a handcrafted object and
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go against the grain of conventional constructional practices, larger buildings
generally cannot afford this luxury. At the same time, we are reluctant to adopt
wholeheartedly the conventional vocabulary of construction with finishes.
We have come to increasingly value the expression of the basic construction of
the building, and that is not something which the North American construction
industry is set up to do. In our recent projects we have attempted to find ways
to go beyond this, to find ways, sometimes highly unconventional ways, to make
the construction of the building and the architecture one.
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Our research model of Strawberry Vale is a representation of where I think our
work is headed. We have completed a series of buildings and have struggled very
slowly with a series of ideas which began intuitively and which have become more
formally expressed and more carefully considered over time . These are ideas
regard ing the particular in the context of the general. In a world dominated by
global culture it is necessary to foster a local culture to define yourse lf as a
people. A regional place defined exclusively by global culture is, in a sense, a1
colonial place without a culture of its own. Although we are inevitably shaped by
global culture, we need to make a local culture, and we need to reinforce the
particular in the context of an overwhelming generality. The principle mechanism
in the creation of the particular is differentiation. Further, through consideration
of certa in traditions within modern arch itecture and classical architecture, we have
come to question the idealization upon which those traditions are based . We have
embraced a pragmatism which, more tha n mere practicality, is a philosophical
pragmatism. Rather than being derived from the presuppositions of action-or
idealization - our architectura l principles are derived from the results of action.
As a consequence our work is directed inevitably toward the characteristic of
heterogeneity, the emphasis upon difference and differentiation.
john Patkau
March 1995
john G. Dinkeloo, 1918-1981
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john G. Dinkeloo was born in Holland, Michigan in 1918 and graduated from the architecture
program of the Un iversity of Michigan in 1942. Upon graduation he joined the office
of Skidmore Owings and Merrill in Chicago where he worked first as a designer and
subsequently as the ch ief of production. Eight years later John returned to Michigan to
join t he office of Eero Saarinen and Associates in Bloomfield Hills where he was to become
a partner. During this time he was involved with the design of a number of important projects
including the TWA Terminal at Kennedy Airport and Dulles Airport in Washington DC as
well as the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and t he Morse and Stiles Colleges at Yale University.
Following the sudden death of Eero Saarinen in 1961 John Dinke loo formed a partnership
with Kevin Roche becoming a founding partner of Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo & Associates
in 1966. This practice was to become one of the most distinguished architectural offices
in the United States and, with the completion of projects such as the Ford Foundation in
New York, the Headquarters for John Deere in Moline and the Oakland Museum, became a
practice whose work has been internationally recognized.
John Dinkeloo was responsible for the development of thoughtful and elegant systems
of design and det ailing. He was involved in many different and highly original technical
innovations including the development of different types of glazing, the use of structural
neoprene gaskets and of high-strength low-alloy weathering steel in the exposed structures
of buildings. ln 1968 he received the Medal of Honor from the New York Chapter of the
American Institute of Architects. Six years lat er the practice received the Architectural Firm
Award from the American Institute of Architects. In 1995 the Ford Foundation Building was
se lected for the AlA Twenty-Five-Year Awa rd.
John Dinkeloo died in 1981. The John Dinkeloo Memorial Lecture was established at the
College of Architecture+ Urban Planning as a recognition of his extraordinary contribution
to architecture and to honor the work of this distinguished and highly respected alumnus
of the Un iversity of Michigan.
The Dinkeloo Lecturers
The John Dinkeloo Memorial Lecture at the College of Architecture+
Urban Planning of the University of Michigan has been delivered by
architects who are internationally recognized for their work in practice.
1984 Kevin Roche
1985 E. Fay Jones
1986 Robert j. Frasca
1987 William Pederson
1988 Richard Meier
1989 Thomas H. Beebe
1990 Gunnar Birkerts
1991
Them Mayne
1992 Tod Williams & Billie Tsien
1993 Michael McKinnell
1994 Diana Agrest
1995 John Patkau
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