One Central Park

“Landscape is architecture…here we have created a continuity so the facades extend the park into the sky.” Jean Nouvel

Central Park is a $2 billion, mixed use urban renewal project in the previous industrial focused inner Sydney suburb of Chippendale. The first stage of redevelopment begins with One Central Park, designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel and PTW Architects, one of the ten residential and commercial buildings that will structure the Central Park development.

The heart of the design, a 6400 square meter public park located in the centre of the development, is influenced primarily by Sydney’s vision to increase green urban space by 20 percent by 2020. A luscious canopy is created from 250 species of Australian flowers and plants which flow seamlessly from the public park up the side of the floor to ceiling glass towers. The leafy foliage visible between each floor is a tangible expression of the hidden infrastructure and Central Park’s commitment made to sustainable urban living. In an old industrial setting, the vertical gardens depict an amalgamation between the urban and natural world, providing an integrated experience of both.

One Central Park has received a 5 Star Green rating for both design and building through a strict maintenance of high standards of environmental sustainability. All the thermal energy needs of retail, commercial and residential buildings in Central Park are covered by a central thermal and electrical plant. Furthermore, on site water recycling and black water treatment plant and solar energy allow it to meet the green energy initiatives associated with the development. The design also includes a cantilever section with a heliostat to capture and reflect sunlight to the park below.

References and Image Credits 

1. The Urban Developer. “Sydney’s $2 billion Central Park development welcomes its first residents“ Last modified June 25, 2013. http://www.theurbandeveloper.com/developments/residential/sydneys-2-billion-central-park-development-welcomes-its-first-residents/

2. Financial Review. “Sydney Central Park project shows sustainable living“ Last modified November  28, 2013.  http://www.afr.com/p/202020_vision/sydney_central_park_project_shows_IFwlwOc7VqwlXPkqUD85GN

3. CentralPark. “The Birth of One Central Park” Last modified 2013. http://www.centralparksydney.com/live/one-central-park/architecture-and-design

Universal Technology and Local Customs

Critical Regionalism seeks to incorporate an opposing approach to design which mediates between universal technology and local customs of architecture. The problematic nature of the relationship between industrialization and traditional cultures and techniques arises when the economy seeks to commercialize our connection to nature.¹ Sacrificed in a dense urban and suburban fabric, Tadao Ando seeks to revitalise the connection between nature and building characteristic of Japanese architecture through the sensory experience.

Ando incorporates this through adopting the open vocabulary of Modernism in the enclosed area of regional differentiation, attempting to conserve and express the culture’s customs, sensibilities and social traditions.² Emphasis is placed upon tectonic form and tactile sensations of illumination, topography, ambience and climate instead of scenography and focusing just upon visuals.³

In his small courtyard houses, Ando uses concrete for its homogeneous surface and how light affects the surface rather than focusing upon the material’s weight. This spatial limpidity is created through the sense of walls becoming abstract and negated as these surfaces become comprehensible through the sunlight.⁴ The tactile and ambient nature of the architecture thus succeeds in transcending the initial perception of its solid geometry. In Koshino House (1980-1984), whilst the exterior is a blank concrete walled façade, the interior corridor is punctuated by narrow openings exposing and expressing the play of light and shadow.

Material selections and fundamental details, enforced by local economies, are geographically diversified through the regional variation of the economic-technological tide.⁵ Recognising the disjointed way of life of Japan in the post war period, Ando’s interplay of light, material, space and detail is reminiscent of traditional Japanese farmhouses (minka) where distinct contrasts are made between light and shadow through the strategically placed clerestories.⁶ Critical regionalism initiates a return to sensory experience and perception in a century dominated by media and information.⁷

^Footnotes

1. Alan Colquhoun “Critique of Regionalism,” in Vincent Canizaro, ed., Architectural Regionalism: Collected Writings on Place, Identity, Modernity and Tradition (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2007), 145.

2. Tadao Ando, “From Self Enclosed Modern Architecture Towards Universality,” Japan Architect, 301

May 1962, 8-12.

3. Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture (London: Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2007), 327.

4. Ibid, 324.

5. Richard J. Neutra, “Regionalism in Architecture”in Vincent Canizaro, ed., Architectural Regionalism: Collected Writings on Place, Identity, Modernity and Tradition (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2007), 278.

6. Xianghua Wu, Concrete Resistance: Ando in the context of critical regionalism,48-341: History of Architectural Theory, May 10 2006, pg 7

7. Frampton, Modern Architecture, 327. 

Image Credits

1. General View (Koshino House), Gonzalo Perez. 2011, photograph. Available: Archdaily, http://www.archdaily.com/161522/ad-classics-koshinohouse-tadao-ando/ (accessed October 11, 2013).

2. Corridor (Koshino House), Gonzalo Perez. 2011, photograph. Available: Archdaily, http://www.archdaily.com/161522/ad-classics-koshino-housetadao-ando/ (accessed October 11, 2013).

3. Row House, Unknown. 2013, photograph. Available: ArchiTravel, http://www.architravel.com/architravel/building/row-house-azuma-house/ (accessed October 11, 2013).

Technology and Architecture

Technology is the cultural expression of the modern man, succeeding far beyond being just a method, transcending into the realm of architecture in itself.¹ Architecture and technology are closely interwoven and complimentary as each becomes the expression of the other.² This realisation is present in Mies’ work as he abstains from decorative elements, focusing upon precision and clarity of the functional form which delineates its aesthetic appeal.

Mies provides an expression of our technological age through a structural concept in the simplest forms, highlighting that architecture must be true to its time and nature. In Mies’ Lake Shore Drive (1951), the structural frame has been fused together with the glazing and glass infill which is defined by the dimensions of the mullions and columns. This modulated façade where architecture and technology are merged depicts the visual interpretation of a new architectural identity which embodies a culture suited to its time. One which acknowledges and articulates both form and construction, individual articulation and the demands of the epoch.³ A subtle richness is present in the integration of the steel structure with fenestrations of alternating opacity, simultaneously displaying transparency and materiality.⁴ The penetrations of the mullions reflect the interior structure of the building, and as a result provide rationale to its aesthetic appeal.

An extension of Mies’ theory is the Metabolist movement which focused upon modern technology to create organic architecture, flexible to the day and age. Minimizing materials and detailing, the Metabolists developed a concept of form and function which maximised efficiency through individual modules which attached to a larger adaptable super structure. ⁵ Metabolists relied heavily upon advanced transformable technologies which utilised prefabricated components and the mechanical replacement of outdated parts. ⁶ They sought to address issues of housing large populations while preserving the personal autonomy of the individual in a modern world. The disadvantage of this complete confidence in the possibilities of modern technology however has lead to a degree of artificiality where utility has become synonymous with profitability.⁷

Footnotes

1. Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture (London: Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2007), 231
2. Mies van der Rohe, “Architecture and Technology” (Speech presented at Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois, April 17, 1950)
3. Detlef Mertins, The Presence of Mies (United States: Princeton Architectural Press, 1994), 71
4. Frampton, Modern Architecture, 234
5. Frampton, Modern Architecture, 282
6. Zhongjie Lin, “Kenzo Tange and the Metabolist Movement: Urban Utopias of Modern Japan” (United States: Routledge, 2010) 2
7. Frampton, Modern Architecture, 287

Image Credits

1. Lake Shore Drive, Hagen Stier. 2010, photograph. Available: Archdaily, http://www.archdaily.com/59487/ad-classics-860-880-lake-shore-drive-mies-van-der-rohe/mainpic/ (accessed September 19, 2013).

2. Nakagin Capsule Tower, Corbis. 2007, photograph. Available: Architectural Record, http://archrecord.construction.com/news/daily/archives/070430kurokawa.asp (accessed September 19, 2013).