Evgeny Ass, Igor Chirkin, studio leaders:
“In the MARSH master's program there is traditionally a studio dedicated to rethinking the fundamental themes of architecture: this year, students have explored the role and significance of material in architecture and, more broadly, the substantiality of architecture in general.
Initially, the word matter in both the ancient Greek (ὕλη) and Latin (materia) languages meant wood, wood. Today we use this word to denote a huge palette of natural and artificial materials.
In the process of work, the students conducted research that related to the Physics of Materials, that is, their physical properties - strength, elasticity, thermal conductivity, transparency, sound insulation and other boring, but necessary knowledge for an architect.
The second group of studies concerned the Poetics of the material, that is, the artistic, figurative, symbolic qualities of materials. The third series of studies, The Life of Material, was devoted to the study of prototypes: outstanding buildings from different eras, in which the role of material is especially significant. The studio focused on what architecture is made of and ultimately on the nature and meaning of architecture.
Based on the research, each of the students formulated a personal Manifesto of materiality, in which he reflected his own ideas about the role and significance of material in architecture. Then everyone chose a material and drew up a construction program, the typology of which most closely correlates with the selected material. The work in the studio resulted in a construction project developed on the basis of the author's Manifesto. ***
Rethinking metal
Alexander Belozertsev
“The first metal used by man is meteoric iron. That is, a fairly solid material is a kind of alien. This means that even before mankind was able to master the production of solids from ore, it already had an example of a finished result before its eyes. With the development of mankind, the chemical composition, technological characteristics and methods of metal production changed, but in an effort to rethink this material, man has always dealt with an already existing object and the process of its origin. The history of metal processing, from primitive furnaces to gigantic industrial furnaces, suggests that the connection between the material and the history of mankind is much closer than it seems if you think only about the product and its technical characteristics. Having lost its original function, the object takes on a new meaning.
In my project, the main material will be steel. Steel is the most common and widely used type of metal in construction, but still, in my project, I wanted to look at the material in its full breadth of context. For me, metal is a process, the fruits of which are nomadic and, like meteorites, fall into context.
I chose the Volgodonsk embankment as the location for the design. If you look at the map of river cruises of the European part of Russia, Volgodonsk is located on the route Moscow - Rostov-on-Don.
The pier is an example of a structure that initially served only its direct function - to be a berth for ships. Later, the pier turns, rather, into an entertainment facility, a point of attraction for city life. For conditions of unstable water level, the pier is also the right solution, since the length seems to follow the water. Depending on the popularity among the townspeople and tourists, the pier can be either a simple empty plane or a place of rest and entertainment.
In my project, the diagonal extending from the dam can become a place for the functional filling. The outdated typology of the river station, the premises related to the river station, will be maximally integrated into the structure of other premises of the pier. As a waiting room - a multifunctional space that meets the requirements for the temporary placement of functional areas. Part of the structure will be equipped for a fish market and recreational facilities.
The very concept of exterior decoration is lost: other materials appear not as part of the image, but as a necessity for a person. ***
Rethinking bricks
Alexandra Polidovets
“For me, working with bricks started with the need to come up with a manifesto. The brief said: in your manifesto you need to express your views on material and materiality, on modern architecture, to form your own credo of an architect. I got the idea that you need to learn the material by working directly with it, finish theorizing and pick up a spatula and a brick. I bought 300 kilograms of bricks and started building the wall, recording everything that happened on video.
While researching the physics and poetics of brick, I came across a book on architectural masonry from 1762, in which a furnace was presented as an architectural detail. This stove itself resembled an architectural building and, delving deeper into the topic of interaction between brick and heat, I came to the conclusion that brick does not want to become an arch, as Louis Cannes said, but wants to be warm.
Brick is known for its ability to retain heat. After analyzing brick ovens in architecture, I identified 3 main typologies in which ovens are found: bakery, ceramic workshop and crematorium. In these typologies, brick interacts with dough, clay and body, and these three substances are metaphorically triune. After analyzing the context of my construction, I opted for a typology of a bakery, further developing my project in the direction of interaction between bricks and bread.
As a design site, I chose a small plot in a field, next to the Ostrovno agro-town, located in the Vitebsk region. I was brought to the Vitebsk region by a set of memories from childhood and adulthood.
Ostrovno is an agro-town, a unique type of rural settlements that appeared in Belarus relatively recently. In Ostrovno there is a former Roman Catholic church (XVI century), now it is almost destroyed. Thick brick walls and powerful vaults, a sense of sacredness and grandeur unite this temple and my future bakery.
Inspiration with a slight touch of sadness for this abandoned crumbling temple, located in the center of the unknown, became for me that subsequent link between the place and the building.
I thought it would be very symbolic if, instead of a dying brick building, something new appeared, built using traditional brickwork technologies that would pay tribute to the time and reflect the continuity of architectural materiality.
In the first sketch of the plan, I thought about the functional and sensory interconnection of all the rooms, and also correlated each of the rooms with its own type of masonry and its own type of bread. At the same time, I correlated them not only in form, but also in meaning. For example, the living room - a place where bread tasting and master classes take place, the process of learning about bread - I correlated with a loaf, the traditional bread of hospitality, and rough traditional masonry.
Studying the technology of brick production, I found parallels between the processes of bread and brick production: both in the technological (obtaining raw materials - kneading - molding - baking - delivery of finished products), and in a visual sense. Bread rolls and bricks are modular items that strive for a clean and regular grid. But both the one and the other process at one stage or another meet with a person, which leads to the appearance of accidents and minor failures, whether it be a shift of a brick relative to the thickness of a seam or a turn of one loaf relative to another.
Continuing my method of learning the material through manual work, I made 600 bricks to feel the size, modulus and experiment with masonry and details.
My project is organized like this: on the ground floor there is a front entrance with a shop where you can have a cup of coffee and buy a loaf of bread or fresh croissants. Also, a bakery is combined with a reception for a mini-hotel. Further, bypassing the rows of bread, the visitor enters the gallery. Directly there is a production of bakery products with a capacity of 3000 tons / day, turning to the left, the visitor walks past the production, looking through the windows and observing the baking process. Having reached the end, he runs into a mini-hotel, on the ground floor of which there is a breakfast room and a kitchenette.
If you turn to the right from the entrance, then, after walking along the gallery, the visitor can go out to the square with a non-functioning pipe, into which you can enter to look at the clear starry sky, like through a telescope. And after going a little further, the visitor finds himself in the space of knowledge of bread making, where the room for master classes in baking is located. A staircase leads directly from the entrance to the second floor. If you turn left, into the archway, a double-height space opens up with a large table for a group of novice bakers. After preparing the bread, the visitor can go to the individual bread discovery booths located on the left. Also on the right, in a separate room, there is a kitchenette for preparing light snacks and drinks in addition to bread - honey, country cheese, homemade wine and mead.
On the second floor there is a walking balcony with a beautiful view of the surrounding forests, fields and lakes. The mini-hotel has three rooms on the floor, each with a bathroom, a small chest of drawers and a work desk. Leaving the room, the guest finds himself on an open balcony, from which one can observe the surrounding fields, meadows, lakes and forests. Walking past the production hall, you can look into the space of the smell of bread, inside which there are benches, sitting on which you can look at the entire cycle of bread production through the arched colonnade. On the opposite side from the production there are administrative premises, the office of the chief baker and the director of production, a place for workers to rest with a dining table.
At the end of the balcony there is a small cafe on the balcony, from where you can watch the master class taking place below. Thus, having seen firsthand the production process, at the end of the journey, you can enjoy a fresh loaf of bread.
Hotel rooms are located on the third and fourth floors. At both ends of the staircase hallway there are round windows for light and view.
Climbing the stairs in the hotel to the 5th floor, the visitor finds himself on the observation deck, from which a view of Ostrovno opens and you can take a look at the whole environment. ***
Reimagining the earth
Anvar Garipov
“This world is rapidly dematerializing. Sterility, smoothness and shine are the key characteristics of our time. We do not know what most of the objects around us are made of, we cannot even imagine how they are arranged. Artificiality and imitation deprive a thing of many properties.
The material in architecture should not only offer rich food for the eyes, but also work for all the senses; reliance on purely visual perception leads to the loss of materiality. Architecture has the right to age, and the material must convey the physical sense of time.
Land is the main material of the project. Having studied all the methods of building from the ground, the method of ramming into the formwork was chosen, as the most suitable for our climatic and technological conditions. Earth is a material that directly reflects the geological memory of a place. Soils, even in neighboring areas, can vary greatly, so each earth-building building is unique.
The design site is located in the city of Mozhga. It is an unremarkable city, without cultural, architectural and natural attractions. The first general plan of the city from 1927 provided for the organization of the city square, but this project was not implemented. A park was created on the site of the proposed area. A full-fledged urban center with a square and public spaces has not yet been formed. Most of the city's buildings are individual residential buildings with personal plots. Most of the city's residents live in these houses. The population density is very low, and there is no active social life in the city.
All establishments that could serve as places of unification of local residents are located far from the center and do not take part in the daily life of the city. I chose the typology of a house of culture or a social and cultural center to solve the identified problems. My object will be located on the site in front of the city council building. This site is used for citywide events, but most of the time it serves as a parking lot and does not play a significant role in the life of the city.
The land is taken directly at the construction site. A pit formed at the site of an excavation can be turned into a pond. In total, 6,200 m³ of land is required for the construction of the building. The pond area is 3100 m² with an average depth of 2 m.
Lime cement cut-off is placed between the compacted soil layers every 400 mm. After some time, under the influence of atmospheric influences, the facade begins to collapse, exposing lime layers. Once exposed, the limestone layers begin to prevent water from flowing down the facade, thereby protecting it from erosion.
The natural unevenness of the hand-laid layers in combination with natural forces creates not only a constructive technique, but also a picturesque texture of the facade. ***
