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MBIArch Notes: Verticalscapes Review

Architectural Design

With the first terms multidisciplinary approach to theory, students were able to apply themes previously discussed in the first portion of the course to the second terms design studios.  MBIArch student Nuria Casais describes the experience and concept behind the programs Core Design Studio ‘Verticalscapes’, led by Iñaki Ábalos.

The Design Core Studio focused on the concept of the verticalscape as an emerging hybrid architecture, and was divided in two consecutive parts. During the Studio’s first part, we worked on a generic verticalscape abstracted from its location, using seven statements as drivers for the project.

We worked in groups of two or three which created richer discussions regarding the project.  Our research sparked questions about the emergence of high-rises in modernity by speculating and testing different approaches specifically elaborating the seven statements the studio accepted as representative of the contemporary condition.  The projects were developed through material or digital models, which changed as the project evolved through the design process. These models created an interesting document in the final jury in order to understand where the final solution derived from.

The projects were developed with different consistencies but with a shared regard to energetic and technical issues. In fact, the objective was to project new high-rise proto-typologies allowing insights into the architectural actuality of different environmental materials like water, wind, climate, or earth. In these technical steps we were able to consult different professors from the theoretical courses that helped the project achieve a higher level of feasibility.

During the Studio’s second part, we introduced the reality of the verticalscape into a real situation, choosing Chicago or Barcelona as the site location depending on each proto-typology. This way, the architecture of the various projects were forced to mutate in response to contextualization and the realities of the city as well as the climatic conditions.

The final solutions presented during the final jury aimed at reflecting the process of development that every project went through during the entire semester. The thermodymanic approach was common in all the projects however the different solutions adopted by each group regarding this approach brought on discussions of how the new skyscraper can be contextual and not solely a modern icon. During the jury the discussions went through the question of verticality in itself and its relation to the programmatic reality of architecture as well as its material and cultural relations to the public dimension of today’s contemporary urbanity.

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