More Change

Buildings may have 5 rates of change, but there are other kinds of projects that change at other rates. Some of them include:

• Tents and temporary structures for special events. These can be used for a couple of seasons, but the amount of time they can be used is affected by weather conditions. Most temporary structures trade air quality for insulation and are not designed to be used for extended periods of time.
• Tech buildings/floors: this isn't quite the right name, but many buildings have raised floors and/or lowered ceilings to hide the wires, etc. that come with technology. These spaces are accessible because tech needs change a lot and so they need to be accessible.
• Special event buildings. One great example of this is buildings for the Olympics. Stuff put up for the 2010 Olympics is supposed to look nice, but will only be used for a few weeks. To get around this, the stadiums and housing is actually designed for future use and is adapted for the Olympics. For example, the Athletes Village is going to be market housing after the Olympics. Although athletes don't have kitchen appliances in their spaces, the apartments will have room for them so they can be put in afterwards.

I think that microarchitectural articulations (MA's) should be tied to structure and movement through the building (that is, stairs & hallways) because they should not be changed through the life of the building. The whole point is they are designed so they don't need to be changed and so that any changes that do occur in the building in the future are directly affected by the placement of the MA's. If they are carefully and thoughtfully deployed, they can direct design alteration and additions to the building after the architect is no longer involved.

When architects design refits and additions to buildings, they always leave certain things as they are. In most cases the structure and some of the exterior walls stay the same. I think that if I use MA's in a design. they should be considered stable elements in a building in the same way as the structure is. They can't just be artistic frills or extras that are part of an architectural language: they need to be the meat of what the designer is saying. MA's underscore the primacy of inhabitants in a building.

Rates of change

So, yesterday I determined that I need to find the right program and site to showcase the MA's, and one of the ways to do this is to find a site that has a lot of programmatic variation. I thought about programs that vary from day to day, hour to hour, and seasonally. Unfortunately, while I am interested in buildings that vary from year to year it is not possible for me to forecast what program will exist in a building in the future, so I can't use it as a design criteria.

The speed of variation seems to be an important factor, and it ties into my argument. Adam Greenfield has an interesting article that talks about different rates of change in designed objects. Buildings have a number of layers that change at different rates from furniture that can be frequently changed with little expense, to foundations and structure that change infrequently because they are so complex and expensive. Fashion is one of the designed objects that changes the fastest because it is a badge that displays how how close the wearer is to the cutting edge: when the majority of people are wearing something, the trendsetter has moved on to prove that they have financial and stylistic access to the very newest.

My interest in this article is because I think I need to locate where microarchitectural articulations fit into this rate of change to get a better idea of what kind of program would best showcase what MA's are good at doing.
What is the rate of MA's? What is the rate of change in the building around them? How do the different parts interact?

Buildings can break down into the following rates of change:

1. Fastest: moveable furniture. Folding chairs/tables or chairs/tables on wheels can be moved several times in an hour. Their placement can change significantly during the day and the can be moved around to suite many kinds of programmatic needs. To respond to this constant movement, folding (or stacking) chairs/tables are cheaply made of lightweight material so they can be easily moved and replaced if they become damaged.
2. Fast: furniture. Most furniture can be moved with a certain amount of effort. The amount of effort, of course, is related to the scale of furniture. Desks, bookshelves, sofas, tables and chairs can be made of moderately heavy materials (wood is a favorite) and may be upholstered. Uphosltery is not a very durable material and will eventually show wear, but this is a trade for the increased comfort in a padded chair. Another example is the rubber chair used by Rem Koolhaas in the SPL: durability is increased by materials, but any material that is comfortable to sit in will not be as durable as one that is very hard.
3. Moderate: Partition walls. Partition walls are intentionally constructed to not be very durable. Often they are no more than 2x4's (or steel stud) with GSB and paint. This occurs because while they are very important in the programmatic breakdown of a building, partition walls need to change when the use of a building changes. A building partitioned with brick or concrete will not be able to adapt to new uses.
4. Slow: external cladding. The only reason that external cladding ever needs to be replaced is the reduced preformance caused by aging of materials. Roof shingles need to be replaced because they rot, caulking because the volitile gasses that keep it soft evaporate, wood because or rot and/or insects, tiles because of moisture ingress... The intent of an architect should be to minimize replacement of external cladding/envelope unless there is a very strong reason to do otherwise.
5. Slowest: Structure and vertical movement. These two parts of a building are often connected and I think it is because they are the two parts that, if they must be replaced, there is a need for a new building. While it is possible to replace structural elements in a building, it only happens if there has been an unexpected failure or if the building is significantly older than its projected lifespan.

Of these 5 rates of change, I think that MA's should be 4 or 5 -- slow or slowest. They are supposed to be flexible enough to respond to unanticipated needs.

Sticking and/or stuck

I set today aside as a day to work late. I was going to sit at my computer and sort out this program/site thing so everything was a little clearer. Yesterday I didn't spend very long at school, I figured, so I would really settle in today, do some work and sort some stuff out properly.

Sure.

So far I've caught on all the websites I visit, eaten lunch, read a whole archive's worth of comics and done nothing.

uh, yay?