revisiting
the American cabin |
1967
• 1975 • 1979 • 2002 |
| Sometimes
an architectural idea hangs around long enough that
it gets real intense about getting built. I keep coming
back to this one. Maybe 2003 is the time. This project
is an effective way to prototype several useful concepts:
Temporary foundations; prefabricated movable building
(+/- 100 pieces); “breathable” exterior
membrane; contoured, non-flat floors; self-contained,
off-the-grid, energy alternatives; greenhouse food production;
and, a non-traditional space form-factor. The EcoSphere
is a true “EarthShip” concept; it is conceived
to move and rest (for awhile) gently on the Earth and
then economically move again. |
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| The
membrane is the most challenging and, perhaps, interesting
aspect of this design. All exterior walls, of any building,
are indeed membranes for they do not keep everything
in or out. And, in this era of so-called energy efficiency,
we try to do that; which is not how nature works - consider
your skin as an example; it is a sophisticated input/output
organ, the largest of the entire body. Attempting to
build absolute barriers is neither possible nor efficient
and certainly not healthy. The interior air quality
and compounding of pollutants in the average building
is a scandal just waiting for its time. The SKIN
of EcoSphere is to be made up of a series of semi-permeable
materials that allow different gasses (via partial pressures)
and radiation (light & heat) to pass in and out
as conditions warrant. The building BREATHS
as is required for comfort and health. Besides this
being a far more effective strategy for energy management,
this embodies LIFE into the building by bringing
a life-like aspect to it. Permeability will
be achieved two ways: first by the materials themselves
directly responding to air, light and temperature and
adjusting in various ways, secondly, by the external
panels, related to the geodesic architecture, opening
and closing by user instruction and programmed protocols.
The “pure” geometry shown in the pictures
of the model, therefore, will never actually be seen
this way as the building will always be “articulating”
as it seeks the optimum balancing of internal and external
energies. This is the skin strategy for Wideness
Mega City although on a much larger scale than Ecophere. |
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| The
interior space of EcoSphere provides and entirely different
experience than the typical residential concept.
It is related, in this regard, to Domicile, the Bay
Area Studio and Gail’s Nest projects. This concept
rejects the “flatness” of floors and walls
and their being treated a intrinsically different elements.
WHY? Other than some building conventions that
derive from primitive mathematical and fabrication means,
what argument is there that dictates this design assumption
as a default practice? The space of EcoSphere is continuous
and punctuated with linear elements. These two aspects,
together set up a dynamic that can be crafted so as
to make the exact sensibility required for each sub-space,
of the entire environment, respond exactly to its real
conditions as they change. The old concept of floors,
walls, ceilings gives way to the structure providing
in each PLACE the combination of shape, finish,
form and texture appropriate for what is happening there.
The “view” in and out of the structure -
through a MEMBRANE that, itself, will “read”
as much an IDEA as a thing - is also shaped
to BE what the function requires not what a
pre-determined form-factor dictates. |
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| Look
at the flower as architecture. I submit to you we have
no concept of ARCHITECTURE. With all our pride
in technology, we are humbled by a single flower. This
is the standard by which we should judge our works not
the petty arguments that take place between one school
of “architecture” and another. Here is the
standard for structure, form, color, function and shear
imagination and beauty. The EcoSphere model is but an
outline, a form, an idea. The task ahead is to render
it with the diversity and joy that nature employs. This,
then, is the work and the criteria of success. EcoSphere
was conceived to be a modern version of traditional
nomadic architecture. The idea was “housing”
that can go anywhere and be organic
in its relationship to the planet. As such, a place
to enjoy nature without imposing all the industrial
society infrastructure costs on it. We have miles to
go in this regard; EcoSphere can be an experiment and
a step toward this goal. As a society, we have assumed
that high economic and ecological infrastructure costs
are an intrinsic consequence of a high standard of living.
We have not realized that this is true only in the context
of our present development and infrastructure design
strategies. If we want different results we have to
design based on intrinsically different criteria. EcoSphere
will not solve all the problem of this domain; this
will require a much greater scope. It can start a process
and be a demonstration. It can be more like a flower
and less like a mechanical thing. |
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EcoSpere
background:
Architectural Projects # 63
1970s
Concepts
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Matt
Taylor
knOwhere @Palo Alto
December 8, 2002
SolutionBox
voice of this document:
VISION • STRATEGY • DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
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posted
December 8, 2002
revised
December 8, 2002
• 20021208.252296.mt •
(note:
this document is about 5% finished)
copyright©
Matt Taylor 1967, 1975, 1979, 2002
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