Community Action Space

Our Studio Appears on the Portland Architecture Blog

2008-05-08T18:09:00.000-07:00

"PSU's Portable Classroom On Alberta" at portlandarchitecture.com

Program Statement

2008-03-07T15:19:00.000-08:00

Arch 282 Architecture Design Studio III Section 2, Matthew Bietz
Community Action Space

The art of Social Practice emphasizes community engagement through non-studio creative activities executed in the field. These encounters will be reinforced through an architectural expression that offers an understanding and consciousness that is embodied in the built structure. This engagement will be evidenced through the materials & opportunities for spaces that support the Social Practice movement and the PSU Social Practice Master of Fine Arts program.

Site: A 5,000 sq ft lot in the Alberta Arts District will temporarily accommodate the activities of the Social Practice Program. The design of the structure should thus embrace the idea of temporality in response to changing situations and functions; and must be reusable in multiple locations.

Program:

(3) Zones:

Interior: warm, dry, and environmentally responsive to climate; secure, but also inviting.
2 independent, yet related zones: one devoted to community interaction and gathering – which could include classes, conversations, yoga and group meals; and one for the social practioner(s) to use as a work space.

Intermediate: A permeable space(s) for cooking and gathering.

Exterior: Garden space, accommodation for bicycles, and a threshold or series of thresholds that embody the spirit of the engagements at the sight.

Here are the client expectation statements:

If anything were possible, what conceptual message would you want your building to convey?

I would like our building to convey the possibility of the improbable.

I would like our building to convey a radical, creative, and comfortable exploration of domestic and community life in the neighborhood that surrounds it.

"I would like our building to convey fun, and a welcoming openness to diverse groups of people"

I would like our portable classroom to invite and inspire conversation, creativity, and community.

I would like our building to convey the message of unconditional positive regard.

A learning place where we can be responsive to the neighborhood

I would like the building to convey and inspire curiosity.

Linx Shipping Container Shelter

2008-02-08T11:33:00.000-08:00

Richard Barnwall, The Dublin based designer has created a concept for a temporary container shelter. This two story structure incorporates the basic human needs, while making good use of a small transportable space.

http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/12/07/prefab-friday-linx-shipping-container-shelter/

What if everyone one had a touch "Screen".

2008-02-08T00:18:00.000-08:00

I challenge the question of social interaction, regards to the future?

Designer: Seungchan Lee

SAMUEL WILKINSON

2008-02-08T00:02:00.000-08:00

FIXED SOCIAL SEATING ELEMENTS THAT APPEAR TO BE STICHED TO THE GROUND. SAMUEL WILKINSON- PROVIDES A WOVEN NATURALISTIC ARRANGEMENT ALONG WITH A FORM OF SHELTER FORM THE ELEMENTS.

2007 LAUSANNE SWITZERLAND

Check out the Samual Wilkinsons link, He has a couple of great renderings on his flash website, along with other great projects.

A COLLECTION IN ARIZONA

2008-01-31T21:05:00.000-08:00

Eliphante is a sculptural home in Cornville, Ariz., created over 28 years by artist Michael Kahn and his wife, Leda Livant, out of found materials. The elephant-like entrance to one of the structures gave the building and the compound their name.

A piano is built into a wall of driftwood.

THERE CAN BE SUCH BEAUTY WITHIN THE COLLECTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF MATERIALS BY HAND.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/01/30/garden/0131-ELIPHANTE_index.html

transmutable installations

2008-01-29T09:35:00.000-08:00

I was thinking over tea the other day that as art students it would be interesting to attempt a series of spacial installations that reflect either a single expression or many as they relate to a social practice intervention.

Shipping Container Architecture

2008-01-29T01:48:00.001-08:00

This particular project is called Future Shack, by Sean Godsell.

Here's an interesting resource for shipping container architecture...

http://firmitas.org/

Modular Buildings

2008-01-29T01:40:00.001-08:00

Here's what wikipedia says about Modular Buildings...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_home

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefabricated_buildings

Walking City - Archigram

2008-01-29T01:29:00.000-08:00

Ron Herron, of Archigram, created this drawing based on a radical new idea for modern urbanism. Possibly because it was so implausible, Walking City became one of Archigram's best-known images. Despite its fastidious surface detailing, it is hard to interpret literally: Could a big aircraft undercarriage support a building? Could a landscape bear the load? Could Walking City paddle in the sea, as other versions of the picture suggested? Even read metaphorically, questions proliferated: Did Walking City come in peace? Nonetheless, it was a bold memorandum of forgotten modernist ambitions: to make collective dwellings, transcend national boundaries, build machines for living in, extend human dominion, alter everyday perception, bring people into contact with the elements, and simply to excite the public about the future.

Inter-Action Centre London - Cedric Price

2008-01-29T00:34:00.000-08:00

The Inter-Action Centre is a multiple purpose community resources center providing a wide range of services. The complex is an extension of the work the Price was doing with the Fun Palace, where inbuilt flexibility or its alternative, planned obsolescense was part of the design process. The Inter-Action Center is similar in essence to the Pompidou Center, with the exception that the component parts are artless and cheap - on purpose. The idea was innovative, yet the architecture was casual. Price was seeking an architecture that was value-free.

Different components can be slid into place or removed; as is required by program and evolution. Shipping containers are used, as are manufactured houses, for classrooms, studios, workshops, eating facilities, etc.

Supershed and Pods - Rural Studio

2008-01-29T00:20:00.000-08:00

This series of pods contained under one shed roof was the living/study complex for the Rural Studio (Auburn University - Samuel Mockbee). The buildings are assemblages of found/donated/inexpensive materials. The students designed and built the structures including the shed roof which was supported by hefty timbers from a former railroad trestle. The last picture is of a house where the walls were created with large bales of shredded, corrugated cardboard waste.

Harris (Butterfly) House - Rural Studio

2008-01-28T23:45:00.000-08:00

The Rural Studio was a collection of Auburn University students that went into rural Mississippi and designed/built architecture for the neediest residents as a community outreach effort and learning exprerience. Guided by Instructor Samuel Mockbee, the students created this 600 square foot house for $25000 - using reclaimed wood and a tin roof. They students also supplied the labor to build the house.

apples to applications...?

2008-01-27T21:32:00.000-08:00

http://www.slovart.sk/buxus/images/obalky_velke/VB780107.jpg

bamboo architecture

2008-01-27T21:19:00.000-08:00

I think that some really interesting things can be done with bamboo, which is readily available, cheap, and light while offering a wide range of design possibilities.

http://bambus.rwth-aachen.de/eng/reports/modern_architecture/referat.html

Urban Tree/ Vertical Garden

2008-01-26T09:11:00.000-08:00

This is an idea that really gets me thinking about the "Urban Filter/Garden". With this type of structure, you would be providing an ecologically friendly service to the community (O2), as well as maybe producing a far amount of shade in the summer months. For PDX, really all you would need to do is add a rain catchment system at the base that would provide fresh water for the plants.

Strohhaus

2008-01-25T12:57:00.000-08:00

Architect_Felix Jerusalem

Location_Eschenz, Switzerland.

Specifications_This home masterfully combines prefab with sustainable materials, primarily prefabricated strawboard panels that provide affordable, environmentally sound insulation. Jerusalem exploits the strawboard with translucent siding giving the structure a clean, modern aesthetic that showcases the material.

A corrugated plastic exterior protects the compressed strawbale which is structural and serves as the primary heat and sound insulation. Jerusalem used three variations of the strawboard throughout the design. Lightweight panels are in place for thermal and acoustic insulation, middle weight for interior walls and a heavy panel is used for structural elements. All are emission free, formaldehyde free and fully recyclable.

The clean lines of the exterior translate to the inside with a simple layout that serves three bedrooms, living room, kitchen, bath and loft - all with a bounty of natural daylight. Inside, Strohhaus takes advantage of the high solar thermal performance of concrete using the material for the home’s central core. The whole package sits just above the site on piers making less earthwork part of its lighter footstep.

yurt me...

2008-01-25T09:36:00.000-08:00

Yurts can be inexpensive, relatively simple to construct and transport. The issues around this type of structure is that they have a static nature with ambiguous internal spaces.

http://www.shelter-systems.com/lighthouse.html

super adobe!

2008-01-25T09:25:00.000-08:00

Although "super adobe" structures are not necessarily transportable after erection they are relatively inexpensive, eco-friendly, easy to erect, and durable.

http://www.calearth.org/Emerg_files/KhaliliEmergShltr.pdf

Emergency shelter investigations

2008-01-25T09:19:00.000-08:00

The engineering of cost and mobility of emergency shelters can be used for the application of Social Practices' spacial needs

http://www.design21sdn.com/competitions/7/entries/223/gallery

http://www.inhabitat.com/2006/11/10/prefab-friday-doorhouse-by-cubo-arquitectos/

inflatable temporary structures

2008-01-25T09:11:00.000-08:00

Inflatable structures might be considered for easy transportation and quick set up. Cost of products start at around $950.

http://www.totalturfsolutions.co.uk/cc-sporting-structures.htm

Hanover Expo - Peter Zumthor

2008-01-24T19:14:00.000-08:00

The Swiss Pavilion at the Hanover Expo is a great example of an ephemeral space that is constructed with no metal fasteners, but instead through tension and compression in the use of metal springs that hold everything together. The wooden components are basically stacked together and as they age, they shrink, change colors and emit wonderful smells. As the members need replacing, they can be re-used and/or recycled. The whole system is also seen as a metaphor for the nature of Swiss society.

Mason Bend Chapel

2008-01-24T18:16:00.000-08:00

Design Firm_Rural Studio

Materials_Defective automobile windshields_Timber Framing_Fly-Ash Concrete Foundation

Elastic House

2008-01-24T17:28:00.000-08:00

The Elastic houses are made for those who like instability and are precarious, who like to be awakened by the sound of the rain, those who like to sleep under overturned boats. So it is said by the designers, Blue Ant Studio.

Classification_Prefabrication

Design Firm_Blue Ant Studios.

The Markie

2008-01-24T00:02:00.001-08:00

The Markie is a fold out, mobile holiday house designed by Eduard Bohtlingk for a "Temporary Homes" design competition in 1985.

Trustee and Savings Mobile Bank and Hospitality Facility

2008-01-23T23:13:00.000-08:00

Lorenzo Apicella designed this mobile customer facility for a bank in the UK. The appearance of this structure may not be what is needed in this situation, but the mobile/compacting ability of it is intriguing for our project.

NYC Mobile Campus

2008-01-23T22:51:00.000-08:00

Todd Dalland of FTL designed these innovative mobile classrooms for the city of New York.

Museum of Moving Images

2008-01-23T22:33:00.001-08:00

One of the first high-profile built commissions for Future Systems is perhaps surprising in that it was a relatively modest temporary 'tent' - yet this small structure is nevertheless of importance in that it incorporated many of the issues dealt with in their earlier work and exhibited an exciting image that was all the more potent for its realisation in built form. Indicated in the design are some of the ideas about practical, temporary and movable buildings. The building utilized a whole series of prefabricated components that it could be easily transported to site and erected with minimum effort to provide a sophisticated and very usable building.

Total Exhibition Structure - Archigram

2008-01-23T21:16:00.000-08:00

Model of the Total Exhibition Structure, "Living City," 1963. Unable to realize the ideal solution of a plastic bubble, the designers of "Living City"opted fora lightweight, transportable triangulated metal frame with panels, familiar in geodesics. A paradox became well known to Archigram architects: the disavowal of form (the subject of the exhibition was urban mood) created dynamic forms.

Rubble House

2008-01-22T17:54:00.001-08:00

Location: Essex, England (prototype)

Date: 1999- Present

Design Firm: LA Architects

Designer: Mike Lawless

Engineers: Mark Whitby, Whitby Bird Engineers

Funding: Self Funding

Pallet House

2008-01-22T17:29:00.000-08:00

Pallet House: Location_Bronx, New York, USA; Ball State University, Munice, Indiana, USA: Sri Lanka

Date: 1999-Present

Design Firm: I-Beam Design

Design Team: Azin Valy, Suzan Wines

Cost Per Unit: Approx $200 (Donated Pallets)

$1,700 for Purchased Pallets

Area: 1,200 sq ft. / 110 sq. m

Hale County Animal Shelter

2008-01-22T09:18:00.000-08:00

This project is By The Rural Studio, These guys are the root for Social outreach/ Design build Architecture.

This Structure is a great example of how a "Modular Material", can be used to produce a beautiful structure.

Kyle