NK Diplomní projekt: března 2011

Wiel Arets interviews Toyo Ito about the Sendal Mediatheque, Japan (2005)

1. What was your ambition in regard to Sendai Mediatheque? I wanted to deviate, even if only slightly from the hackneyed and boring public building of Japanese management principle.

2. How could we read the programmatic condition of the project within the Japanese city and system? The idea of 'function' did not exist in the traditional architecture of Japan. It was integrated into another system – order – which was established only by a difference of place, like Ichi-no-ma (fist room), Ni-no-ma (second room), Oku-no-ma (back room), Do-ma (earth floor). 'Sendai Mediatheque' aims to be architecture which is distinguished only by difference of 'place'.

3. The competition brief was to design a building combining different programs like an art gallery, public library, film and media center. However, you changed that brief. Could you explain why? If there is anything to add to what I said under 2, you might say that this architecture artificially reproduces the space of nature like forest. Activity in each place can be provisional and also be interchanged.

4. When you showed me the building I was surprised at the fact that each façade is designed differently. They look like they are as thin as a sheet of rice-paper sometimes transparent and sometimes translucent. Could you describe your design strategy concerning this glass façade in relation to the program and city context? Originally, the space was to be infinitely consecutive like a forest. The façade resembles a cutting plane like space being confined on the site: architecture in the realistic condition. The world (or universe) in which "conclusion" was shown whenever it was enclosed by the same façade, in spite of the covered transparent tube. Therefore, I wanted to avoid that.

5. The randomly penetrating circles create voids as if the vertical matter is rotten and only the irregular bone-like parts are remaining. Could you agree with this interpretation? For me, 'tube' holds a stronger image. The partition is not easily held up by organic-shaped and randomly arranged 'tubes with different sizes. It means that I tried to make a space which was not at all like a homogeneous office. Moreover, the idea was to make it differ from a mere pillar by being a 'tube' in mid-air and it was able to strongly integrate the entire whole.

6. The structure, you worked on with Mutsuro Sasaki, is dominant and unique since it might neglect the supporting aspect How wouid you describe this solution? After the 1990s, my expression went back and forth between transparent-cubic (e.g. Hotel-P, T-building in Nakameguro, etc) and fluid-organic (e.g. Shimosuwa Municipal Museum, etc). In the 'Sendai Mediatheque' I tried to unite those expressions by sealing the organic shaped 'tube' into the transparent 'tube'. Therefore, 'Sendai Mediatheque became the beginning of the experiment related to various structures and space.

7. The building under construction looked like the development of a big machine, made out of steel parts to minimize the thickness of each part. Could this be described as a conscious concept? At first I thought of disappearing iron but later of it becoming a tube of light. When the overwhelming appearance of iron being welded in the construction site came to my eyes, I changed my concept. I wanted it to be stronger architecture by making the iron demonstrative.

8. What is your idea behind using different colours at night for each floor? By artificial light the skin of the building seems to disappear.

9. The furniture is designed by different architects and designers. Why? In my first sketch this is described as "making floor height random". With this image, I intended to convey that each floor should have a different finish, different furniture and different lighting. It is because I wanted to show that the building had an existence independent of each floor.

10. What do you think about the position of the traditional book in the near future when we consider new media as a seemingly dominating source of information? The more the image media advance, the more the meaning of "Book" as "Material” grows. In the same way: the more the human brain evolves the more man's body in contrast has meaning.

Wiel Arets interviews Dominique Perrault about the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris, France (2005)

1. You once said that the Bibliotheque Nationale de France is 'a place and not a building'. Could you elaborate on this statement? I said 'it is a landscape, it's not a building'. In this landscape you can find a special space, a huge void in the city between the four towers at each corner. This project's most important characteristic is the void, the empty space. Most of the building is underground, and only 25% is above ground around a garden, a piece of forest. All the rest is underground.

2. What was your personal interest in designing this intriguing building, which was the prize-winning entry to the competition for the Bibliotheque Nationale de France? This building is a monster. Its volume is huge: 300000 m3 . The Centre Pompidou in Paris fits more than three times into it. The idea was to try and find a solution for the presence of this monster in the city, working with the paradoxical concept of the presence and absence of its architecture. Compared to the other 19 entries in the competition, this project is the lightest. The presence of nature in the centre contributes to that.

3. It seems that you are fortunate to produce mainly 'Grands Projets' like the French National Library in Paris, the Olympic Vélodrome and Swimming Pool in Berlin and the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg Are these buildings a dominant factor within the development of the contemporary city? Yes they are a dominant factor. These kinds of cultural, sports or judicial buildings are very prominent in the city. The goal for me with these projects is to find out how to manage and control the presence of public space within these projects. Usually they are built with a big wall around; it is impossible to go through them. The Library is a huge institution but it gives permission to pass through. It is the same in Berlin and Luxembourg.

4. The four symbolic towers with wooden panels to control the climate expose the collection as a treasure to the public. But they also create an emptiness, which is often found in your work. Could you elaborate on the use of the wooden panels? For the offices in the basement of the tower, each wooden panel is movable. The levels above the offices in the basement are for storage, each with fixed wooden panels. The panels close the inside and a layer of glass is wrapped around it. The initial idea for the competition was to build the complete volume of each tower in glass. The finishing of the wooden panels would follow the growth of the collection step by step. Each year we would build one or more floors of the wooden panelling. But Francois Mitterand said: 'I have the money now, so all should be built now. After me there might be no money for the library anymore'.

5. 'A sea of trees, a froth of leaves' is how you describe the sunken garden. In nearly all your work the relationship with nature seems to be inevitable. Can you say more about your seeming obsession with nature? One idea is about transforming a building into a landscape. The other idea is to consider nature as material, just like concrete, metal or glass. The library's garden is really material; creating it was a building process. This kind of ambiguity is exciting: is it natural or artificial? For the visitors, the garden seems to be totally natural. A lot of people said to me that it was a very good idea to have kept the garden in the centre of the library and to build the building around it. They think that this garden existed before the library was built.

6. In all your work glass seems to be the favourite material for developing facades, which could be seen as filters. Where does this interest in what one could describe as osmosis come from? For me the facade should be a filter. With a glass facade all of the facade can be transparent or opaque, there's a choice. The light can be controlled; with curtains, colored or (screen)- printed glass. Later inside and outside of the building can be combined; into the glass, or in between the glass. A special design can be developed with different materials to build a complex facade. This facade becomes like a filter, very efficient, special and sensitive.

7. The use of seemingly sterile materials like glass and woven steel in combination with wood seems to be a constant factor which gives your work a generous expression; how would you explain this warm atmosphere? There is no explanation; it's just me, it's my feeling. Architecture is a very heavy art, the physical presence of a building is never light. Working with materials like wood allows us to introduce a more sensual, sensitive and smooth feeling, which in the end gives more comfort.

8. When we visited the library, you used the word violence and you spoke about the forbidden as being an important word to explain your work. For me architecture is a violent action. To build a wall is a very strong decision; the wall will separate a space in two. Such a decision is an act of physical violence, to create a forbidden situation between one part and another. So for an architect it is very important to develop a specific attitude towards the quality and the status of the wall. And especially towards the materials to be used.

9. How would you describe research within your work and what is your interest within the academic field? The idea for me is to go beyond the academic field and merge other fields of knowledge - political, economic, ecological knowledge. My theory is: everything is material for architecture. I could manipulate all things to create a project; there is no limit. Matenal is something you work with, so a client - with his context - is material also.

10. Do we need books in the future and is a library within our contemporary society in which new media are dominant still a relevant topic? We are now working on the Digital Library of Korea, which will be an extension of the National Library m Seoul. It will be on the same site, connected to the existing building. But the new library is only for digital support, built into the hill on which the existing one was built. A library is absolutely a relevant topic for the future.

Wiel Arets interviews Jacques Herzog (Herzog & de Meuron) about the Eberswalde Technical School, Germany (2005)

1. What was your personal interest designing this intriguing building, which is an extension to the existing Eberswalde University Library? Budget restrictions and lack of influence on internal organisation and therefore on the spatial innovation of the library were a serious problem in that project. The fascination of working in this remote city in the former DDR, however, was strong enough to seduce us.

2. Since this building is designed in collaboration with your friend Thomas Ruff, for whom you designed his house and studio in Dusseldorf, I have to ask you why Herzog & de Meuron (HdM) has this particular interest in collaborating with artists? As we know that you also decided to work with Gerard Richter if your design for the Jussieu Library would have been built. Our idea of using images in such an extensive way required the collaboration of a person professionally dealing with images. Such persons are artists rather than architects. Plus we knew that Thomas was collecting newspaperp hotos as a kind of personal historic archive. We were very keen to get access to this archive of images. Gerhard Richter's work has intrigued us for similar reasons - particularly his interest in the relationship of the natural and the artificial seems not far away from ours. Currently he has produced a huge mural for the main court of our New de Young Museum, openig in October 2005 in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

3. A pictorial historical narrative, in fact a classical theme within Swiss architecture, was the starting point for the facade. It is not the first time you worked according to this idea, why are you so interested in the facade and this addition of images onto the facade? Which Swiss tradition are you talking about? Images and ornaments have not been used in modern or contemporary architecture for decades, neither in Switzerland nor elsewhere. They were banned by Adolf Loos and other mainly protestant believers (namely also in Switzerland!). Facades are as important as all the other ingredients to create and produce architecture, such as space, form, programme. We use them all - sometimes giving more weight to one thing for reasons we cannot always dictate ourselves.

4. Is a library within our contemporary society in which new media are dominant still a relevant topic or do we have rewrite this typological construct? We don't have to rewrite or reinvent the library as a typology. We have to reinvigorate libraries because they remain fantastic places to read, to study, to meet, to hang around with books and people.

5. What will be the position of the book in the future? People will continue to read and smell them.

6. How would you describe research within the work of HdM, since it seems to be strongly related to the making? Research in all fields of architecture is at the basis of all we have ever done. Everything is research and experiment.

7. The court seems to be a continuous element in your work, whether we talk about the Koechlin House, the Hypobank, the Institute for Hospital Pharmaceuticals or your design for the Jussieu library. Could you elaborate on this issue? The court has been one of the smartest, long-living and practical typologies in architecture for thousands of years. Why should we not use it when lt seems appropriate?

8. Concerning research I would be interested in your opinion about the development of the contemporary city. Which contemporary city? They are all more and more different and specific. Globalisation has increased economic pressure on cities just like on individuals in their professional careers. The outcome is a kind of accelerated process of aging revealing specific weaknesses as well as strengths.

9. Your academic work is culminating in your Basel Institute. Could you elaborate on the work produced in this laboratory and your specific interest in this matter? We are examining exactly these processes of transformation and trying to understand how cities are changing and how eventually to influence such a process of change.

10. Studying with Aldo Rossi was for Pierre de Meuron and yourself important, as you mentioned that his provocative 'architecture is architecture' is still relevant for you. Could you tell me how you would describe yourself as an academic person besides being an architect. As I said before we are more experimental than academic. We have established our Basel Institute outside the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule in Zurich for this very reason: to protect it from academic bureaucracy, which is a killer for everything new. Our research with cities and architecture, however, is producing and feeding an academic army of critics, teachers and students who will study, comment and digest this production. This we cannot and also do not want to prevent. We see it also as a chance that we live in a time with no urbanistic or architectonic theory. Practising, researching, criticising and studying architecture ideally go hand in hand with as little as possible bureaucratic organisation.

Wiel Arets interviews Rem Koolhaas about the Public Library, Seattle, USA (2005)

1. What were your aims when you started the design? We had the ambition to findout what role a 1000-year-old typology could play in today's world, the ambition to findout what a public building means in the age of the market economy; to findout how we could make a progressive building in the America of today, and how we could mobilise the character - radical/visionary/ technological and cautious - that is specific to Seattle.

2. The voyeuristic attitude expressed by the building, determined largely by the entirely glazed envelope and continuous circulation route, sets up a discordant relation with the context. Was this for you a reason to make a building whose most salient characteristic seems to be communication? I'll leave the choice of adjectives to you, but I can say thing things about the context. Seattle is remarkable because of its unique and romantic topography, but tne urban and architectural substance of the city itself is utterly generic. We deliberately avoided focusing on the sur-rounding grey skyscrapers. Instead, each platform is positioned so that it engages with the lyrical particulars of the surroundings, such as the volcano, Mount Rainier, the harbour, and the light.

3. Is the concept of 'Library' even applicable to the building in Seattle, given that it could be better termed a medium for communication? We studied which elements of the library needed to be modernised and which needed to be maintained... You could call it a modernised library.

4. The building occupies an entire city block and is inserted into the city fabric in ostensibly "American" fashion. Which raises the question: what determined the form of the building? As I said, it's a hardcore programmatic diagram, influenced by a lyrical context.

5. Did the fact that Microsoft and Boeing are based in this coastal city have any effect on the project or its programmatic conditions? The effects of Microsoft and Boeing were: > Seattle is one of the few places left in the world where the belief in rationalism is still intact. > Openness for the issue of technology. > General intelligence of participants in the whole process. The board included permanent representatives from Microsoft and Boeing, and there was both personal interest and generosity from Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft billionaires from the very beginning.

6. The structural facades of glass and steel look like they were formed as a single module and fold around the artificial interior landscape like a porous skin. Why the uniform facade treatment? The library is a municipal building built with a municipal budget. The architecture could only meet expectations through the development of a system in which structure and cladding form one entity. Hence the module, which is both structural and optimised in terms of size of glazing and fabrication.

7. Gary Hill, the Seattle-based artist, made a video for the library. How do you view the role of art and the work of an artist inside a building you designed, in the knowledge that many architects currently involve artists in the process of producing design concepts? I think the 1 % rule - the regulation that makes art mandatory - is a disaster. For both architect and artist. I think that cooperation of this sort mainly serves to shroud the identity crises afflicting both of them. I'd love to make architecture without art and I find it ridiculous I can't. Having said that, Tony Oursler is a friend, and with him I've tried to remove the "mandatory" by enabling him to destroy a piece of the building. In other words, we didn't dodge the violence that comes with combining Art and Architecture.

8. As far as I know, the collaboration with Maarten Van Severen dates back to the design of the house in Bordeaux. He was also involved in the theatre for Porto, a building that features carpets by Petra Blaisse. Can you tell me about your structural collaboration with such people? The collaboration with both Maarten Van Severen and Petra Blaisse dates back to the mid-1980s and is based on the simple knowledge that they are uniquely talented, and that it's better to avail of their talents rather than try and perfect them ourselves. I fundamentally like collaboration and have been able to follow the progression of both Van Severen and Blaisse from close by without being responsible for it in any way. I hate the class phobia that architecture often implies and have always been fascinated by the idea of giving individuals like these the space that I couldn't or wouldn't claim for myself.

9. Is this the ideal library? Or rather, how would you criticise it as a journalist? Just give it a go, I'd say. Know anyone still intent on pursuing ideals today?

10. What role remains for the book now and in the near future, given that we are surrounded by new media? Over the past 30 years I've witnessed the inexhaustible vitality of the book. And I find it fascinating to see how new technology influences the book. SMLXL is inconceivable without the whole notion of hypertext, but it's still essentially a book. I think that the relation between man and book has an intimacy unrivalled by other media. So it's unlikely the book will ever disappear.