archidea46-Julien de Smedt.pdf

7/30/2019 archidea46-Julien de Smedt.pdf

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Photo: Fred guerdin

A FINEboldNESSIS VEryAPPEAlING

JulIEN dE SmEdT:


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Th mt trkng thng n h wrk th xtraaganc

f frm. Th Muntan rnta prjct n Cpnhagn,

th k jump n o, th harp pak f th la vga

ht th ar jut m f th many gn that

hw th quaty. Jun d smt nt afra t pruc

archtctur that crat a ua pctac. Athugh th

Bgan-Frnch archtct raty yung at 36, h

ha aray pruc many much-cu gn. H

wrk fr ra yar n PloT Archtctur tgthr

wth Bjark ing, but nc 2006 h ha ha h wn

practc unr th nam Jds Archtct. Jds ha ffc n

Bru, Cpnhagn, B Hrznt an shangha.

extraaganc an pctac ar nt hwr th nc

f h archtctur, h xpan.W ar nt rn by fr-

ma a. our am nt jut t mak xtraagant frm.our man ntrt th prfrmanc f bung, n

thugh xtraaganc may b th r ut. W hap th u-

m f ur bung that thy w ntr nt an act

agu wth thr cuntrpart, th urban n thr

wr, wth pubc pac. Th Muntan fr xamp, ha

an acnng an cnng rut that pp can fw

arun th bung that nt ny fr rnt but a

fr jggr wh wu k mthng mr changng t

xrt thm. Pp u park n an act way, an

w nt why thy hunt u th bung f a cty

acty t.

- You often seek to create a very physical relationship

between people and the building. For example, you

provide routes which climb and descend, or which

traverse the building. And you care about lines of

sight.

it abut ratng t what arun yu. Th hap

f m f ur prjct wa mtat by a wh nt t

btruct th w f th bung bhn t. A an archtct

yu cmp wthn a cntxt, an wthn a t f ptn-

ta r pprtunt, nt ny fr th ur but fr th

ntr urrunng. it f cur much mr ntr-

tng t crat a bung that mpr an nrch th

nrnmnt, nta f jut makng prbm r bckng

pprtunt. W away anay th urban fw n

n th prjct, an f w can twt, bn r rrctthm, n rr t mpr thm.

- One could say you have an ambivalent attitude

towards a building. A building is a huge object which

will obstruct movements and views. At the same

time you do everything you can to penetrate the

building, in order to create the possibility of con-

tinuous movement. Or you manipulate its shape to

free up the lines of sight. Is this a fair description of

your design attitude?

it agan abut cratng pprtunt. A archtct w

nt rfu a prjct jut bcau t cu btruct w

Iconography as such is not all that interesting, says the architect

Julien de Smet. He also has reservations about aesthetics: It is a

mistake to rely on a paper-thin personal jugment about beauty. In

his architecture, his primary aim is to activate people. To continuallyreprouce meaningless, apathetic builings in our cities is aggressive,

almost criminal.

Th Muntan dwng, Cpnhagn, dnmark (2008)

Pht: Jds Archtct

Jun d sm


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affect the uunng etmentally. if we nt the

jb, mene ele wll . s we ak uele f we can

t n a way that a new pblte. We uually tuy

many altenate, an we nt knw exactly whee we

ae gng befe we fn t. smetme we cme up wth a

new uban fm. in many way t me the negate, the

, that gue u ecn pce, than the l

the bulng hape. Take f example the k jump n ol.

What nteetng abut t, the negate: eeythng

that nn-bult. The k jump, wth t mnmal pnt f

uppt, e nt ccupy the te a much a lbeatng t.

intea f takng the fm f eeal epaate paln,

u egn unfe all the amente nt a cntnuu

hape. The whle tuctue ncpate bth f the

juge an cmmentat, pace f tane, lunge

f the ryal Famly an the viP, the lbby, the aena

entance, the aena telf, the cmpett lunge, a u-

en hp, an acce t the extng mueum, the publc

ewng teace at the tp f tuctue an much ele.

The eultng mplcty enhance the expeence f the

The Muntan dwellng,

Cpenhagen, denmak (2008)

Pht: Jds Achtect


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pectatr an fcue attentn n the perfrmance f

the cmpetng k jumper. The egn al mnmze thempact n the envrnment. The reultng hape came frm

egn am lke thee an nt frm the wh t create a

pectacular bject.

- Still, it seems to have become an icon for the city of Oslo.

it wa nt ur am t create an cn. icngraphy a uch

nt all that nteretng. But we were well aware that we

culnt av the k jump becmng cnc. After puttng a

publc terrace at the tp f the k jump, we ha t recn-cle urelve wth t cngraphc character. Th vewng

platfrm nvert the cn, n a certan ene. it prve a

tremenu vta f the cty, turnng the cty nt the cn

rather than the k jump telf. s i uppe th e llu-

trate a kn f ambvalence uch a yu mentne. The

bject mght be extremely mpng r extravagant, but we

Julen de sm

Hlmenkllen sk Jump, ol, Nrway (2011)

Pht: Marc Bella


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Monr an eano Hot, Naa, la vga, UsA ( 2006)

imag: Jds Archtct


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tn t brak t an turn t nt mthng , gu by

prncp that hav nthng t wth kng t makmthng pctacuar r cnc.

- You could call it beautiful or significant rather than

iconic. Does the idea of beauty play a part in your

design process?

i hav nthng agant a bautfu bjct n tf, but i

hav n affnty wth th kn f r t cntan. if a

gn cntr xcuvy arun ubjctv bauty, i f

chat. it a mtak t ry n a papr-thn prna

jugmnt abut bauty. Th cncpt f bauty tr-

mn cuturay, t frg n ur upbrngng. it nt

mthng yu can cmpty ratnaz. if yu can ay

that a bung ucc n ng what wa ntn, t

much mr bautfu an cnvncng n my pnn. But i

am nt agant bauty a uch. i can bauty n thng

that mak n mathmatcay, prgrammatcay r c-

ay. of cur t a bt f a cch t ay that archtct

mut rv th n f cty, an b t a cru

mpfcatn. i f that ca ffct ar gnuny my

rpnbty an i wu vn tak that a tp furthr:

i wu argu that t cntnuay rpruc manng,

apathtc bung n ur ct aggrv, amt

crmna. Tay t harr t archtctur jut fr th

ak f bauty r f fun. That nt man w hunthav fun, r crat th pbty f havng fun. Th bu-

ng can b ght hart n t utcm, but t hu b

mbu wth purp t can b u by pp n th

way thy want. W am t ntat vnt that w tmuat

pp t mt an ntract. By mt gr. Aumng th

bung ha m x-appa, at at.

- Do you mean a building should be in the first place

an event?

Y. i grw up n th trt f Bru an i ha a

pr f abut tn yar whn i u t katbar. A

katbarr ntract wth th cty, but t a vnt ntr-

actn. it wa angru an t wa ga. skatbarr

wr frvr njurng thmv an amagng thng.

Back thn i wa ngag n tryng th cty, but nw a

an archtct i try t bu t up. Th cntractn hp

m t raz that an archtct hu crat archtctur

that nt jut abut u but abu. lk katbarr,

pp want t u th urban pac an thng wth t,

actvy. Thy havnt bn ffr much n that way. Thy

hav away ha pubc park, quar an wak, but

mr an mr w thnk f pubc pac a a hybr. W

eura Yuth Cntr, l, Franc (2011)

imag: Jds Archtct

Jun d sm


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see it as a three dimensional space, one that extends to

different levels of the city.- That sounds as if you strive for a building that has

the complexity of a landscape.

Ye, i d create andcape. Urban andcape. our wrk

very much abut ayern, prrammn and actvatn.

We accept the dea f enjyn t and abun t at the ame

tme. Thee are eenta cmpnent f urbanty, n my p-

nn. But they hud a reate n an nteretn way t the

cntext f the budn; i mean by ayern and preadn

functn. Cnder a twer, fr ntance. it mre nte-

retn t cmb a twer than t dappear nt t. gn up

t the tp much mre enan and prvde a equence

f experence, rather than jut ne f ben ucked n.

Yu can cmpare t wth the dfference between rdn a

bke r takn the metr. When yu trave underrund n

the metr, yu dappear and then reappear mewhere

ee. There n reatnhp at a t whatever happened

n between, at the urban eve. When takn a bke, yu are

nvved n the cty, necapaby. smary, mvn danay

mre nteretn than mvn hrzntay r vertcay.

The dana experence mre exctn. Yur perpectve

keep chann and yu have t keep yur baance.

- In your work, a roof is seldom just a roof. What is

the challenge of a good roof?in the 1920, actvatn the rf, makn t functna, wa

ne f le Crbuer fve pnt f archt ecture. it werd

that we archtect have frtten abut th, methn

whch eem t have happened when the nternatna

tye reduced Mdernm t t aethetc and verked

t dere and cntent. Maybe t tme t return t the

eence f Mdernm and t appy t dea aan. The

rf a ptenta urface that can make up fr what wa

acrfced at rund eve. The technca effrt nt a that

reat; t can be dne eay, and t yed a fantatc effect.

A rftp terrace expand yur hrzn and ve yu a

new vew f the cty. it hep yu t undertand the cty, t

treet and the urrundn budn better.

- Although Julien De Smedt emphasizes the structu-

ral aspect of his architecture - his interest in move-

ment, lines of sight and activation his architecture

seems at first sight to disclose a strongly aesthetic

motivation. Is there an aesthetic extra he wants

to infuse into his designs?

The paradox of our architecture is that by the time we


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hae to ece about the facae thee haly any money

left, he ay. That becaue we pent a lot of the bugetto ceate the et of the bulng an to ge t an ntee-

tng goun plan. Fo the people who ae gong to ue t,

the plan much moe mpotant. We unetan that t

matte to ue an the clent that a bulng oent look

cheap. What we ty to o to ceate a kn that a pat of

the whole an alo ha ome actatng functon.

- Still, you sometimes appear to make designs that

are driven by a purely aesthetic idea for example

the spectacular peaks of the hotel in Las Vegas.

When you hae complete 99.5 pecent of the bulng

egn n a functonal way, you can o the emanng 0.5

pecent n an extaagant way. We ece that thoe

peak coul be obeatoe, at leat ey mall one.

in geneal i fn a fne bolne ey appealng. When

thee an achtectual getue t houl be poweful an

mple. Take fo ntance the hap, tangula balcone

of the v Houe n Copenhagen. They hae the mplet

uppotng tuctue we coul thnk of: two beam an a

agonal ba. The eult an aggee aethet c, mple

an poweful. You aw omethng lke that an uenlyt panfully clea that th what the balcone wll be

lke. it almot lke a foun object; you accept omethng

you coulnt hae egne ntentonally. Mot achtect

woul eject t a too aggee o een too ugly. i hope

i ont make ugly bulng, but th o-calle uglne

open up potental oluton that you woul othewe

nee thnk of.

- There is a strange contradiction in your work. On

one hand it has a relaxed ambience but on the o ther

it seems adventurous. You strive for an extraordi-

nary architecture in order to activate people. But at

the same time you do it in a relaxed way.

That a ey tue obeaton. i ont know f i am

all that fon of the contacton, but t happen. Many

apect of my achtectue ae mooth an butal at the

ame tme. Thee ae two exteme whch mege nto one

expeence.

Matme Youth Houe, Copenhagen, denmak (2004)

Photo: Paolo roell

Julen de sm


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The relation between nature and architecture is much

more complex, however. In the end, nature does

indeed find its way into architecture. Many archi-

tects find that they have much to learn from biological

structures and phenomena. Their interest in nature

goes much further than the familiar analogies of the

column with the tree trunk and of the roof with layers

of foliage supported by branches. In the complex,

ramified ground plans of Structuralist architecture, for

example, we may recognize an organ such as a lung

or an organic growth such as that of coral. Startingfrom a thick base, the structure repeatedly branches

into ever finer elements, maximizing the surface area

of the building in contact with light and fresh air.

Designs made in the 1960s and 70s by the Metabolists

of Japan similarly appear to have biological origins.

Their accretions of capsules recall the cells of orga-

nisms. They are capable of endless expansion, like an

uncontrollably proliferating tissue, thereby implicitly

speculating on a city that develops organically and

automatically from the building itself, cell by cell, wit-

hout a premeditated design. An architect is no longer

needed and the building behaves as an autonomous

phenomenon of nature.

The idea of architecture repelling nature has also

given rise to a desire to reconcile architecture with

nature. I am not referring here to sustainable archi-

tecture, which we may regard as an attempt to treat

nature and its resources in a responsible way, but to

ornaments and forms that in some or other respect

render a homage to nature. This undoubtedly began

with the acanthus-leaf motif of Corinthian capitals,and was expressed with elegance and exuberance in

Art Nouveau. In recent years it has resurged even

more explicitly in the shape of buildings as a whole;

the building has itself become ornament. These natu-

ralistic forms remind us, as city dwellers, what we

have taken distance from. It seems ironic that these

developments result in the nature being expressed

more and more in illustrations and in biomimicry, but

less and less as the direct, raw presence of the orga-

nisms with which we share our planet.

THAT NATurE cAN SErVE AS A SourcE oF INSPIrATIoN For ArcHITEcTurE IS NoT ImmEdIATEly obVIouS.

Ahitetes aisn te is t ptet s f nate. It is einent atifiia an efets ankin, wh is a eate

that takes an f his fate anipating an nting his iving nitins.

FocuS oN ArcHITEcTurE

bIomImIcryPhoto: Fernando Alda


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on f th mt pnunc an mpv xampl

f bmmcy n achtctu th cntly cmplt

Mtpl Paal n svll. such an xubant achtctual

gtu n th hat f th mval nn cty upng

an nt wthut th k f bng t butal an xpv

n th lcat uban fabc. But t ft vy wll, phap

bcau f t ganc fm, fng t muhm: n

a ctan way th mval tt an hu hav th

am natual, ganc qualty, a f thy gw th jut bythmlv, wthut human ntvntn.

Mtpl Paal, th vlpmnt f th Plaza la

encanacn n svll gn by J. MAYer H. achtct,

cul b cn t b a nw cn f svll, a plac f

ntfcatn whch atculat svll l a a facnat-

ng cultual tnatn f wl fam. Mtpl Paal

xpl th ptntal f th Plaza la encanacn t

bcm th nw cntmpay uban cnt. it l a a

unqu uban pac wthn th n fabc f th mval

nn cty f svll allw f a gat vaty f actvt

uch a cultu, lu an cmmc. A hghly vlp

nfatuctu hlp t actvat th qua, makng t an

attactv tnatn f tut an lcal alk.

Th Mtpl Paal chm, wth t mpv tmb

tuctu, nclu an achalgcal muum, a fam

makt, an lvat plaza, multpl ba an tauant

unnath an n th paal, a wll a a panama

tac n th vy tp f th paal. ralz a n f

th lagt an mt nnvatv bn tmb-cntuc-

tn, an wth a plyuthan catng, th paal gwut f th achalgcal xcavatn t nt a cntmp-

ay lanmak, fnng a unqu latnhp btwn th

htcal an th cntmpay cty. A th nam Mtpl

Paal ncat, t cnt pmaly f th hug, fu

paal. Pvng ha n a cty bath n atng ht

un n th umm nt jut an ajunct; t ntal f

th functnng f a nw cty cnt wh ppl can mt

an lax.

mETRopol pARAsolSEVIllE, SPAIN (2011)

Achtct: J. MAYer H. achtct

Bmmcy

Pht: dav FanckPht: Fnan Ala

Pht: Fnan Ala Pht: Fnan


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hAEslEY NINE BRIdGEs GolF CluB housEyEoJu, GyENGGI, SouTH KorEA (2010)

Fne tmber column re from the round floor, dere

n mall, eleantly cured branche and fan out n a fne

network of trut that upport the roof: the reemblance

of the column to tree remarkable n the Haeley Nne

Brde golf Club Houe, dened by the Korean archtect

Kyeon sk Yoon/KACi and the Japanee archtect sheru

Ban. in the atrum the funnel haped column are expoedfull ze, from the bottom to the ery top; n the adjacent

caf the column penetrate the much lower roof and con-

tnue nto the pace aboe.

The Japanee archtect sheru Ban famou for the way

he create delcate tructure out of natural materal lke

wood and bamboo. He not enerally ntereted n creatn

metaphor or mae that refer pecfcally to nature. H

archtecture uually much more abtract, wth a focu on

the tructural and aethetc qualte of the materal that

he ue. But the Haeley Club Houe eem to be an excep-

ton a far a th metaphorc apect concerned. The col-

umn echo the tree that urround the olf coure, creatn

an ntmate relatonhp between the nature outde and the

nteror of the buldn. it a thouh the la wall that

eparate the two world rreleant.

Haeley Nne Brde golf Club Houe a 4,300 m2faclty

ern a olf coure. it ha an underround leel and three

floor aboe rade. There a man buldn, a viP lobby

buldn and a tructure wth prate ute. The atrum

and the upper porton of the man buldn nclude tmbercolumn and a la curtan wall, whle the bae made

of tone (random rubble maonry typcal of Korea). The

tmber area nclude the r ecepton zone, a member loune

and a party room. The tone plnth houe locker room,

bathroom, and erce area. The roof oer the man buld-

n meaure 36 x 72 metre. The unuual treelke tmber

column n the atrum reach to a heht of three tore.

A partal tmber tructure made t poble to conform to

Korean reulaton that prohbt tmber buldn larer

than 6,000 m2 n floor area. The frt floor of the atrum ha

la hutter that open fully acro a wdth of 4.5 m.

Archtect: Kyeon-sk Yoon/KACi internatonal + sheru Ban Archtect

Photo: Hroyuk Hra


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Th prpa f th dutch artt an archtct lar

spuybrk (NoX) fr a nw typ f anmark fr th

Chn cty f shnzhn cat an ptmtc, utpanght n th pbt f tchngy fr t ppuatn.

Th 220 m ta tructur bth ymbz an tmuat

th urban cmmunty. it vk th natura mag f a

warm, a nt, r a cra rf, a rganm that grw

by th atn f ma mnt wthut bng rct

by a ng ax, frm r pan. int that bn f f an

tchngy, spuybrk ncrprat an xtnv wbt

n whch nhabtant f shnzhn can xchang nfrma-

tn an a abut thr ay v. Thught, ram,

v, hp, tat an hath ar rprnt bth n

th wbt an n th twr tf, whch vb a thr

mth vum upn n th tructur. each vum

cntan a arg ha xhbtng th ntractn btwn

pp, an vn prntng hm v f cty-wrwh hav pa away.

Th wb ntractn ar vuaz by th twr a a ay

chang f cr: g fr th bran, r fr th hart

an bu fr th gut, wth atna ghtng rprnt-

ng nn nhabtant an th uag f tar n aytm.

in th way th lvng Wb Twr bcm an rganc

machn, cntanty ngagng th v f pp, an at

th am tm bcmng a ymb f ntgratn.

ThE lIVING wEB TowERNSHENzHEN, cHINA

Bmmcry

Archtct: NoX/lar spuybrk

imag: NoX/lar spuybrk

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