an other cultural space portfolio octave pero

A n - O T H E R

C U LT U R A L

S PA C E

—

5

Foreword

The brief of this year long project provided a starting point for research with the text Of Other Spaces, Heterotopia by the French philosopher Michel Foucault . This 1984’s article opens up a large f ield of questions relating to architecture, sociology and philosophy through the attempt of defining these spaces.

I focused pretty quickly on what I later called the ‘heterotopias of culture’, a definit ion which gathers the public spaces where culture is performed at large. They are for instance the museums and theatres but also the less institutionalised ones such as street art and fairs. Through their study, I tr ied to define a problematic that could challenge the conception of such spaces in order to i l lustrate some of the issues they may have. Thus, the designs that resulted do not pretend to provide any kind of solution but a rather speculative or even poetic manifestation of the concepts in order to hopefully suggest a larger debate.

Supervised by Miraj Ahmed and Mar tin Jameson

For a 3 rd year BA at the Architectural Association, London

From October 2009 to June 2010

Passed AA Intermediate RIBA/ARB Par t 1

1.0 The Modern Cultural Space

—

The Museum, the Heterotopia of Culture

11

mu•se•um

muse

n. A building, place, or institution devoted to the acquisition, conservation, study, exhibition, and educational interpretation of objects having scientifi c, historical, or artistic value.

n. 1) in ancient Greek mythology any of 9 daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne; protector of an art or science. 2) The spirit that is thought to inspire a poet or other artist; source of genius or inspiration.

v. 1) To think or meditate in silence, as on some subject. 2) To meditate on, to refl ect deeply on a subject. 3) To comment thoughtfully or ruminate upon.

12

1.1 The modern cultural spaces - Case study

Galleries, theater and library

Administration, shop and cafe

What is labelled here as cultural spaces includes three different typologies of spaces. The theater type suits live performances and screenings ; the gallery is adapted to exhibiting videos, pictures and sculptures ; the library sheds documents and medias as well as providing facilities to consult them. Even if each of these types stand as a valid program for a building, modern museums seem to contain all of them and become the cultural hubs of the city. Thus, in order to illustrate their main characteristics, here follows the short case-study of two of them, the Bregenz’s Kunsthaus and the Kurosawa’s Museum.

The fi rst noticable aspect of this museum built in 1997 in Austria is the two buildings. The smaller one sheds the cafe, the bookshop and the administration while the glazed one is only occupied by the galleries, the theater and the library. The architect separated the cultural spaces from the commercial ones in order to enhance the special and ideal character of the ones that exhibit culture.The galleries follow this thought through providing ‘ideal’ exhibition conditions where the lighting is highly controllable and the background neutral.

Bregenz’s Kunsthaus by Peter Zumthor

Bregenz Kunsthaus gallery spaces are neutral and adaptable

13

Gallery

GalleryGallery

Gallery

Gallery

Gallery

Meeting

Library

Gallery

Gallery

GalleryGallery

Gallery

GalleryGallery

TheaterEvent Room

Shop

Bookshop

Yard

Yard

Yard

Yard

Gallery Courtyard Theatre Public Space

1:1000

The design of the building illustrates very well the wide range of facilities that a modern museum provides. Each volume sheds a specifi c function and is then inserted in the surrounding circle to form a covered public space. These spaces work independently from each other yet is a whole that can be explored through infi nite paths.Built in Japan in 2004, it is the modern museum par excellence.

Kurosawa 21st Century Museum by SANAA

The design illustrates the variety of programs found in the museum

14

Ottawa Paris

Naples London

Seoul Bilbao

Tokyo Copenhagen

Maman, Louise Bourgeois, 2005

Providence, Jenny Holzer, 2006

1.2 Oppor tunities and l imitations of the cultural institution

Cultural spaces and especially museums have a special position in society that may prevent them from being properly evaluated. Ideally, they are supposed to bring any culture to any audience in a neutral and objective manner. It is clear that they provide amazing facilities for various cultural manifestations but more importantly, the ressources offered by these spaces can be condition of the realisation of such events (plays or operas for instance). Many of them need so much logistics that they would not happen if people and money were not organised by these institutions. Thus, they have an infl uence on the art pieces. It is also not to be forgotten that they remain institutions run by administrations where politics and fi nances partly draw the curation line. Therefore, the infl uence of money and fashion cannot be omitted while studying those spaces.

15

Artists are looking for a new modernity that would be based on translation: What matters today is to translate the cultural values of cultural groups and to connect them to the world network. This “reloading process” of modernism according to the twenty-fi rst-century issues could be called altermodernism, a movement connected to the creolisation of cultures and the fi ght for autonomy, but also the possibility of producing singularities in a more and more standardized world.

Nicolas Bourriaud, Art Association of Australia

& New Zealand Conference, 2005

The Weather Project, Olafur Eliasson, Tate Modern, 2003 Royal Festival Hall, London, 2006

16

1.3 From the frame to the white cube

The framing power of the street on one of Banksy’s piece, London, 2010

The modern gallery space shows a series of recurrent design characteristics. The space is sober yet adaptable so as to provide a decent atmosphere for the widest range of artwork possible. The light and temperature are controlled, the ceilings are high and there are no windows on the wall. Neutral and practical, these aspects are commonly accepted as the most suitable to welcome artwork, the ones allowing the observer to enjoy the pieces in ideal conditions. Brian O’Doherty called it the white cube in 1976 as a reaction to the universality of that typology, a name that has since remained.

The reasons that led to design such a space for art which is now found all around the world seem to be justifi able. However, the power relations between the gallery and the artwork have to be questionned.

Is the gallery as neutral as it claims to be?

May the artwork be designed according to the gallery?

Street art stands on an interesting position. Its existence is condition of its frame which is the street, and therefore cannot fi t in the gallery. May it be, or not, made in order to avoid it is not our debate but it rises several issues as it has always struggled to be accepted as a respectable art form. In the case of street art, from the decay to the exposure, the infl uence of the context on the artwork is unclear yet obviously present. It allows to question the neutrality of the white cube gallery as the unique and universal typology of exhibition space. White cube galleries may be very practicle and adapted spaces to host the arts, however their power of infl uence has to be kept in mind despite their neutral appearance.

17

The ideal of the gallery is fulfi lled as strongly in [a white cube] as in a salon painting in the 1830s. Indeed, the salon itself implicitly defi nes what a gallery is, a defi nition appropriate for the esthetics of the period. A gallery is a place with a wall, which is covered with a wall of pictures. [...] Each picture was seen as a self-contained entity, totally isolated from its slum-close neighbor by a heavy frame around and a complete perspective system within.

Brian O’Doherty,

Inside the White Cube, the Ideology of the Gallery

Space, 1976

An usual white cube gallery, Nottingham, UK

John Soane’s Dulwich Picture Gallery, the fi rst building in the UK designed to exhibit art

2.0 London’s Cultural Strip

—

A series of cultural institutionson the Southbank of the Thames River

21

Article 27

1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjot the arts and to share in scientifi c advancement and its benefi ts.2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientifi c, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948

Mankind, which in Homer’s time was an object of contemplation for the Olympian gods, now is one for itself. Its self-alienation has reached such a degree that it can experience its own destruction as an aesthetic pleasure of the fi rst order. This is the situation of politics which Fascism is rendering aesthetic. Communism responds by politicizing art.

The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction, Walter

Benjamin, 1936

22

2.1 Brief history of the Thames River

London Bridge from Southwark, 1630

The Festival of Britain, 1951

The Thames River played a major role in the developement of London’s agglomeration. It has been the artery of the city. Being wide and close from the sea, most imported goods to London were brought by the waterway. The convenience of the river surely allowed the British to build and secure their colonial empire, London being the world’s most powerful harbour for a long while. From the Roman empire to the XIXth century, it was also a natural protection from the enemies coming from the South as there was only one bridge i.e. London Bridge.The river and its banks once contained most of the commercial activities of London. Thousands of boats used it on a daily basis for commercial reasons or only transportation and the banks provided hundreds of access points to the water being either piers or just the shore. When the city became a large industrial power during the XIXth century, concrete embankments and many bridges were built. From then on to the Second World War, the Thames river was the industrial axis of London, vital for the British economy. Large industrial buildings and extensive docks covered the banks all the way to the estuary.

From 1950, the river’s traffi c tend to discrease while the activities on the banks evolved. All industries left the centre of London and the buildings that remained from the bombings were either converted into or replaced by modern spaces.Cultural activities fl orished along the river starting from 1951 with the Festival of Britain. The south bank of the meandre by Waterloo bridge welcomed temporary festival celebrating the British power, many leisure facilities were erected such as fairs, parks, exhibitions spaces and theatres. The main cultural ones remained - the National Theatre, the Royal Festival Hall, the Hayward Gallery, the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Besides this area, as tourism was developing, many state and Royal buildings were turned into galleries for instance the County Hall and, on the other side of the bank, Somerset House. By the end of the XXth century, the river banks of the most central portion of London host a large amount of cultural landmarks accessible by foot from one another. London cultural strip starts upstream from Westminster Abbey and Big Ben all the way down to London’s most famous bridge, Tower Bridge.

23

Looking North from the Tate Modern, 2010

Canaletto, 1747

24

National Theatre

British Film Institute

Imax Cinema

Christmas Market

Queen Elizabeth Hall

London Eye

County Hall Gallery

The Dali Universe

London Aquarium

Crimean War Museum

Southbank Skatepark

Thames River

Tham

es R

iver

Waterloo Bridge Book Market

Hayward Gallery

Festival oBritain Are

County Hall A

City Of London

Southbank

2.2 Typologies along the strip

United Kingdom

Greater London

25

Bankside Gallery

Tate Gallery of Modern Art

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre

Clink Museum

HMS Belfast

Unicorn Theatre

Design Museum

Thames River

Borough Market

Golden Hind Drake

London Bridge

Experience

London Dungeon

The Hays Gallery

London Cityhall

Tower Bridge

Millenium Bridge

tival of in Area

ll

Tate Modern Area

London Bridge Area

More London Area

Cultural Spaces

Touristic Attraction

Unformal Cultural Spaces

Following the study of cultural spaces in London, it appeared that several of the most important ones were found along the Thames Southbank. They represent a good variety of the typologies explored in the fi rst chapter. Indeed, several art galleries can be found including the world famous Tate Modern Gallery, there are also several large theaters hosting international representation i.e. the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the National Theater and the British Film Institute. Their proximity and alignment along the Thames River naturally created a lively promenade adequate for several private or/and informal cultural manifestations to cohabitate.

The dense and varied cultural activity of London’s Southbank was therefore chosen as the site for the following projects as they both challenge the surrounding institutions.

26

2.3 The main cultural institutions of Southbank

Since 2000, the Tate Modern is Britain’s national gallery of international modern art and forms. It is the most-visited modern art gallery in the world with around 4.7 million visitors per year. It is based in the former Bankside Power Station and provides several different gallery spaces - The Tate Collection exhibition, major temporary exhibitions (3-4 months), cutting-edge temporary exhibitions (2-3 months) and the Turbine Hall used to display specially-commissioned works by contemporary artists. There are also an auditorium, seminar rooms, education center, several shops and cafe/bars as well as offi ce space for administration. An extension is under planning.

The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the UK’s main publicly funded theatre companies. It houses three separate auditoria. The Olivier Theatre is the main auditorium, it seats 1160 people and features high-tech scenery devices. The Lyttelton Theatre can accommodate an audience of 890. The Cottesloe Theatre is a small, adaptable studio space holding up to 400 people depending on the seating confi guration. The riverside forecourt is used for regular open-air performances. The terraces and foyers of the theatre complex are open to the public, with a bookshop, restaurants, bars and exhibition spaces. They also welcome ad hoc theatrical performances.

The Queen Elizabeth Hall (1967) is a music venue that hosts daily classical, jazz and avant-garde music and dance performances. Part of Southbank Centre arts complex, it stands alongside the Royal Festival Hall, which was built for the Festival of Britain of 1951, and the Hayward Gallery. The main auditoria has over 900 seats and the Purcell Room, a linked but smaller venue for recitals, has 370 seats. The undercroft of the foyer building has been popular in London’s street life since the early 70’s. The area is used by skateboarders, BMXers, graffi ti artists, taggers, photographers, buskers, and performance artists, among others.

Tate Modern Gallery


National Theatre

27

The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation which concentrate on developing the appreciation of moving image and fi lmic art. The complex shelters four fl at-screen cinemas showing historical & specialised fi lms, the IMAX which is the largest screen in the UK. It is also home of the world’s largest fi lm and television archive that is explorable from the mediatheque. The institution contains also a gallery, a fi lm store, a bar&kitchen, a café and administration offi ces. An informal Book Fair happens quite often opposite the BFI Café where a large selection of second-hand book can be found. Waterloo Bridge protect them from bad weather.

The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue. The hall was built as part of the Festival of Britain was opened on 3 May 1951. Since the late 1980s the hall has operated an ‘open foyers’ policy, opening up the substantial foyer spaces to the public throughout the day, even if there are no performances. Besides the main hall, the building consists of the Clore Ballroom, the Southbank Centre Shop, a Poetry Library, bars and several shop and catering units on the riverside walk.

The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery opened on 9 July 1968, part of the Southbank Center. The Hayward hosts three/four major temporary exhibitions each year and does not house any permanent collections. The exhibition often extend out of the gallery onto the complex building facade inviting the visitors to have a walk in.

The County Hall is home of various programmes. While most of them are businesses, others could be considered as cultural being some of London’s major touristic attractions, i.e. the London Sea Life Aquarium. The London Eye is next to County Hall, and its visitor centre is inside the building. There is also a suite of exhibition rooms where used to be the Saatchi Gallery and is now home for the London Film Museum. Other parts of the building house two hotels (a budget Premier Inn & a 5 star Marriott Hotel), Namco Station amusement arcade, several restaurants and some fl ats. Various spaces are available for hire for exhibition and functions. Until January 2010 the Dali Universe was also in the building.


Royal Festival Hall

Hayward Gallery

County Hall

28

2.4 Cultural performances outside the institutions

Cultural institutions provide services that are the condition of existence of some cultural performances. The facilities, technologies and staff provided is considerable. However, these appearance also happen in private and public space, informally and organically. In that respect, the Thames promenade is a vital spot in London. Being a pedestrian walkway with a lot of space, several of these performances take place every day. Some of them having now an offi cial status.

The Southbank Book Fair uses waterloo bridge as a cover and takes place pretty much every day all year long. The Southbank Skatepark is located under the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Ramps and block made it adapted for street sports like skateboarding, it was adopted immediately by the riders’ community and is known worldwide as London’s best skate spot and an urban art forum. Films were made to keep it when it was set to close, graffi tis cover the walls. On the walkway, musicians and dancers often show their skills to the strollers. Sculptors sometimes build temporary forms on Upper Ground Park’s beach that people can see from the promenade. These public performances are collateral to the strip of cultural institutions yet they may not be able to exist within them.

Could Banksy’s graffi ti be showed in a museum whilst

maintaining its message ?

To what extent are instutionalised spaces necessary to the

performance of culture?

29

Southbank daily book fair

Sand sculptors on Upper Ground Beach

London’s most famous skate park under the Queen Elizabeth Hall

Dancers and musicians opposite Royal Festival Hall

3.0 Framing the Gallery

to Re-Valuate the Art

—

A new white cube galleryon London’s Southbank

33

I assume that defi nitions of a situation are built up in accordance with principals of organization which govern events […] and our subjective involvement in them; frame is the word I use to refer to such of these basic elements as I am able to identify.

Erving Goffman, Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization

of Experience, 1974

There are no facts, only interpretations.

Nietzsche, Notebooks, Summer 1886 – Fall 1887

34

WES

TM

INS

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BR

IDG

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CH

AR

ING

CR

OS

S R

AIL

WA

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WA

TER

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IDG

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BLA

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FRIA

RS

BR

IDG

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BLA

CK

FRIA

RS

RA

ILW

AY

MIL

LEN

IUM

FO

OTP

ATH

London Aquarium

Dali Universe

County Hall Gallery

London Eye

Jubilee Gardens Royal Festival

Hall



National Theatre

Upper Ground

Market & Gardens

Tate ModernBANKRIVER

The site of this fi rst project is located between the cultural institutions of the Festival of Britain and the Tate Modern Gallery. This portion of the strip is bare of cultural landmarks and the Upper Ground Gardens allow the sun to light the notch of the bank. Several stairs access to the riverbed and a couple of piers already step onto it.

The pier

3.1 Fil l ing the strip and extending it on the r iver

The pier from the riverbed at low tide

35

Southbank Center

Tate Modern

N

River Thames

1:2000

Beach

Beach

Pier

SO

UTH

WA

RK

BR

IDG

E

CA

NN

ON

STR

EET R

AIL

WA

Y

LON

DO

N B

RID

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TO

WER

BR

IDG

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Globe Theater

Clink Jail

Southwark Cathedral

Borough Market

Hays Gallery

London CityHall

Design Museum

HMS Belfast

BANKRIVER

36

Superstudio wanted to remove “all commercially driven clutter from the object or architecture” in order to achieve “a non-design community where every one would be able to fi nd the full development of his possibilities”. Therefore they rejected the known notions of design, architecture and town planning and defi ned the square block as “the fi rst and ultimate act in the history of ideas and architecture.” It was an attempt to “criticize the irrelevance and excesses of consumer culture.”

Peter Lang and William Menking,

Superstudio: Life without objects, 2003

The ideal gallery subtracts from the artwork all cues that interfere with the fact that it is “art”. The work is isolated from everything that would detract from its own evaluation of itself. This gives the space a presence possessed by other spaces where conventions are preserved through the repetition of a closed system of values. […] So powerful are the perceptual fi elds of force within this chamber that, once outside it, art can lapse into secular status.

Brian O’Doherty,

Inside the White Cube, the Ideology of the Gallery Space, 1976

3.2 A crit ical gallery on Southbank

37

The gallery completes the cultural strip, but does not mix with the other institutions

The gallery is concious of the real value of the artwork

The gallery is only dedicated to art

The gallery has a frame, like the painting

Like Superstudio, the frame lets every one fi nd the full development of his possibilities

ART

ART

ARTART

ARTART

ARTART

ARTART ART$

ART

BANKBANKRIVERRIVER

An art pavilion is completing London’s cultural strip.

Located on the unfriendly part of the South Bank, on the

riverbed, it presents itself as the shadow of the other

institutions. Like them, the exhibition space is a white cube

gallery. However, it is surrounded by a disproportionate

empty space that embodies the framing power of modern

galleries. The visitor has to experience the frame to get to

the art.

The visitor wonders why.

The frame and the walls of the gallery isolates yet values

the inner volume while hopefully does not hide its effect.

The gallery aims to be more honest to the visitor. Detached

from the bank, right on the wild dirty sand, it questions the

positions of the surrounding cultural institutions.

38

3.3 A white cube within a frame

A A

B

B

B

B

A

A

Section A-A

Top View

Section B-B

High tide

Low tide

1:500

GALLERY SPACEFRAMING SPACE

GALLERY SPACEFRAMING SPACE

39

Looking North-West

40

GALLERY SPACE

FRAMING SPACE

THAMES RIVER SOUTH BANK

LOWEST TIDE

HIGHEST TIDE

RIVERBED

3.4 The frame, a troubling buffer space

41

Inside the Frame, Looking North

From the Pathway, Looking North

4.0 Celebrating the Context

to Cure the Illusion

—

A cultural spaceon the Thames’ r iverbed

45

The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifi cations and thus adds his contribution to the creative act.

Marcel Duchamps, The Creative Act (Lecture), 1957

To frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem defi nition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation.

Robert M. Entman,

Framing: Toward Clarifi cation of a Fractured Paradigm, 1993

46

4.1 The potential land of the River Thames

Both men, women, and children walked over, and up and down in such companies, that I verily believe, and I dare almost swear it, that one half (if not three parts) of the people in the City, have been seen going on the Thames. The river shows not now (neither shows it yet) like a river, but like a fi eld where archers shoot at pricks, while others play at football. It is a place of mastery, where some waddle, and some run, and he that does best is apt to take a fall. It is an alley to walk upon without dread, albeit under it be most assured danger. The gentlewoman that trembles to pass over a bridge in the fi eld, doth here walk boldly: the citizen’s wife that looks pale when she sits in a boat for fear of drowning, thinks that here she treads as safe now as in her parlour. Of all ages, of all sexes, of all professions this is the common path: it is the roadway between London and Westminster, and between Southwark and London…Thirst you for Beer, Ale, wine, or victuals? There you may buy it, because you may tell an other day how you dined upon the Thames. Are you cold with going over? You shall ere you come to the midst of the river, spy some ready with pans of coal to warm your fi ngers. If you want fruit after you have dined, there stands Coffermongers to serve you at your call. And thus do people leave their houses and the streets, turning the goodliest river in the whole kingdom, into the broadest street to walk in.

Anonymous Pamphlet, The Great Frost. Cold doings in London, except it be at the Lotte-

rie. With Newes out of the Country. A Familiar talke between a Country-man and a Citizen

touching this terrible Frost and the great Lotterie, and the effects of them., 1608

February Frost Fair - Crown of Anker by John Frost, George Cruikshank, 1838

River Thames Frost Fairs were held on the Tideway of the River Thames in the heart of London between the 15th and 19th centuries when the river froze over. During that time the British winter was more severe than now and the Thames was broader, shallower and slower. Moreover, old London Bridge, which carried a row of shops and houses on each side of its roadway, was supported on many closely-spaced piers where large pieces of ice would lodge against, gradually blocking the arches and acting like a dam for the river at ebb tide.Being temporarily covered, the Thames became a surreal place of attraction gathering excited Londoners and foreigners from any background.

Fair on the Thames, drawn by Luke Clenell, engraved by George Cooke, Feb. 1814

48

4.2 Reclaiming Londoner ’s Riverbed

London and the Londoners, collage

49

With modernity, the Thames has been devoided from any interaction - the embankments make the riverbed inaccessible, the boat traffi c disappeared, the pollution is unfriendly to bathing. But the river is still in all minds, at least there is the constant fl ooding risk that hangs over the city. The Thames is the main factor that made London what it is now. For a long time it protected the city from invaders and then it allowed the country to become the major colonial power with London as a main harbour. Now, the river is still the artery of London. Possibly because it is

the only wild natural element left in London whose rhythm and power have never been called into question. The only one that hasn’t been domesticated by modernity, which has only managed to contain it and turn it into a postcard.Bringing it back to the city, letting the Londoners engage with the only piece of land that has remained unaffected is therefore an excellent metaphorical cure. It has a history of creation of possibilities. It is London’s geographical and historical context.

Thames riverbed, collage

50

Being located in central London, which has been occupied by humans for thousands of years, there are many artefacts remaining on the riverbed. They can be found at low tide. The erosion reveals other objects regularly, and because of the clay soil, some of them are very well preserved.

Plastic Bracelet

Watch Leather WristbandHuman Bone

Clay Pipes

Rusty Nail

Copper Knife HandleSteel

Machine gun BulletDrawer Handle

Welding Remains

Wood

4.3 The river ’s materialit ies

51

SandConcrete SoilCarved stone

Most of the time, when a horizontal surface found in the Thames is man-made - stones, planks of wood, concrete - the water doesn’t drain, it is wet, muddy and covered with seaweed. It is very slippery and dirty. However, when it is sand or gravels, it is still humid but the water drains. Seaweed cannot grow on these because the waves rub the sendiments onto each other which cleans them up. Mud particules are also washed away with the stream. The original riverbed is the one and only self-cleansing material found in the river.

Rough StoneChiseled Stone Cut Stone Brick

The vertical textures along the bank all show a similar gradient of decay and dirt due to the movements of the tide. The bottom is very wet and muddy while the top is covered with seaweed because of the regular exposure to the air.

52

Tide marks on Southbank Embankment

The water comes in and out of the tideway two times a day.It takes about 6h

The Thames Tideway

4.4 The river ’s rhythms

Teddington Lock

Central London

North Sea

London is not exactly located on a river as it sees the effect of astronomical tide, it is located on a tidal waterway. It makes the study of the tide slightly diffi cult because less predictable.

Being close enough to the sea, the tides manage to come into the estuary, pass London, up to the Teddington Lock. In that portion of the river, the tides are infl uenced by several other factors that cannot be predicted properly. First, there is the riverfl ow. According to the amount of precipitations gathered upstream all along the Thames valley, the level of the river changes. Second and more important, the storm surges. When a storm blows from East to West in the North Sea, the seawater is pushed into the funnel formed by Thames Estuary. It can have such a large infl uence that it became a serious fl ooding risk for the city. The Thames Barrier was built in order to prevent such scenario.These latter parameters do not follow the same predictable periodic nature of the astronomical factors and therefore are not included in tidal predictions.

53

1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 280

2

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-1

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TidalWater LevelMeter

Surcharge

Water LevelMeter

TimeHours

TimeHours

Max Water Level

Max High Tide

Min High Tide

Max Low Tide

Min Low Water

Max Surcharge

Min Surcharge

The astronomical tide is the change in water level due primarily to the relative motions and the gravitational pull of the moon and sun. London has a mixed tide. It consists of two highs and two lows per lunar day (24h50m). The maximum amplitude at London Bridge is 7.1 meters. The site is close enough to this location to use this data but, one must keep in mind that the level hardly goes over 6 meters under usual conditions.

The water fl owing down the Thames after being gathered in the Thames valley (surcharge) and the storm surges infl uence the water level. London’s tides are not periodical. This uncertainty is not major but is enough to turn a regular rhythm into a random pattern that sometimes becomes a threat to the city.

Astronomical tide

54

4.5 The power of the stream - Scouring effect

Scour at a very wide vertical-wall “pier“ The fl ow at a relatively long abutment

Rivers have shaped a large part of the lands on the surface of the planet Earth through the process of erosion. The fl owing water excavates and carries away material from the bed and banks of streams creating holes and heaps that form the landscape. Scour

is the hole left behind when sediment (sand and rocks) is washed away from the bottom of a river. The rates of scour in different materials and under different fl ow conditions depend on the erosive power of the fl ow, the erosion resistance of the material, and a balance between sediment transported into and out of a section.

Erosion and scouring usually have slow and therefore minor consequences but may also be devastating. For instance, bridge scour is one of the main cause of bridge failure. Indeed, when an object becomes an obstacle for the waterfl ow, it creates turbulences that lift the sediments. This process enhances the scouring effect, scoops out scour holes and may compromise the integrity of a structure. This phenomenon is common around bridges abutments and piers, but happens to any structures left in a water way.

The shape of the obstacles and the conscequent scouring are entirely related. Some shapes create more eddies lifting the particules whereas other don’t disrupt much the fl ow of the fl uid. The lexicon of scouring on the opposite page is an intuitive summary of a series of scientifi c studies about scouring. It shows the consequences of scouring when a liquid fl ows constantly fom left to right around an obstacle. It attempts to provide a set of design rules in relation to this phenomenon.

55

Scouring

Deep

SedimentationOriginal level of sediment

Shallow

Lexicon of Scouring and Sedimentation

56

Low Depth AreaSite

2

1

3

Ebb TideDirection of the water

Flood Tide Direction of the water

Westminster

London Eye

Southbank Center

Embankment

The City

Upstream

Downstream

1

Rift

2

Low Depth Area

Rift

3

Rift

Before the curve the profi le of the river is symetrical.

After the curve the profi le of the river is symetrical.

Because of its inertia, the water tends to run along the external bank, it accelerates and a create this typical disymetrical profi le.

4.6 Low depth area along Southbank

Site

1:1250 Stream velocity diagram on the Central portion of the Thames

57

City Park Walkway Low Depth Area Waterway

This scouring effect is due to the daily in&out fl ow of the Thames at this curving point. The force of inertia of the water is tangent to the fl ow. Thus, when there is a turn, the water tends to keep going straight and only gets diverted through the action of the landscape on its trajectory. In a similar way to a car in a turn, the water passes through the exterior of the turn, moving the rift of the river to the edge. Through scouring, a deep area is created there and a beach usually appears in the internal side of the turn. But in this case, because of the embankment, this effect is minor. However, a shallower area is noticeable.

Contraction Scour

This regular scouring effect takes place on the site creating a low depth area along the Southbank. This area of the river is not deep enough which makes it inproper for navigation. It is noticeable that boats are moored in a line far enough from the shore to have enough water depth even at low tide.The notch on the bank allow the beach to be revealed and accessed. The park allows the south light to reach the beach. This area is the site for the architectural intervention.

58

The Upper Ground park is in front of the notch in the bank. This open space has to be considered because the absence of building allow the sun rays to reach the site most of the day, even close the to bank. However, despite few people venturing on the riverbed, the access remains reduced and the embankment is only a linear pedestrian path.

The pathway on Sunday The shoreAccess to the riverbed

Because of the curve of its path, the river is not deep enough for the boats on a 100 meter wide band along the Southbank, right in front of the site of the fi rst project. This area seems to be ideal for an intervention on the riverbed as the traffi c of the boat won’t suffer from it.

Low Depth AreaWaterway

4.7 Site analysis

1:500N

Low Depth Area Limit

A

A

0

0

0

+5

+2+3+4

+1

+1

+1

-2

-2

-2

-2

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-1-1

59

1:200Section A-A

Boat Traffic AreaNorth Bank Low Depth Area Upper Ground Park Southwark

0 +1 +2 +3 +4+1-2-2-1

Maximum High Tide - +7.1m

Minimum Low Tide - 0m

+7.1m - Maximum High Tide

0m - Minimum Low Tide

Upper GroundPark

MarketLondon Television Center

g

Offices and Shops

Pier

Upper Ground

Upper Ground

Barge House St

Pier

Offices

Offices

Offices

Offices

Buildings and Landmarks1:500N

Mobility and access to riverbed1:500N

Sunny area1:500N

Potential Buildable Area

50 m

120 m

1:500N

60

Brutal transition to the riverbed Artifi cial landscape leading to the riverbed

4.8 The landscape leaps into the r iver

The fi rst part of the intervention modifi es the relationship between London and the Thames. Instead of the abrupt vertical embankment preventing the Londoner from approaching the riverbed, the idea is to create a transitional area that goes from the pathway to the river. The uncontrolable and dangerous water seems immediately friendlier. It is not contained, neither is the stroller. The conceptual model attemps to replace the one-step embankment by a series of smaller steps.

8 hours/tide underwater6 hours/tide underwater3 hours/tide underwater

x High Tide

High Tide

Original Bank

Original Bank

x Low Tide

Low Water

61

The artifi cial landscape sits between land and water, covered at high tide and revealed at low tide. This surface is constantly evolving. Areas remain underwater longer if they are lower, some area retain water like pools and others let the water fl ow freely. The water becomes one of the architectural substance and the building lives at the rhythms of the river. The playful potential of such a landscape is wide but the design must take into consideration the power of the river.

62

4.9 Another cultural institution

The second part of the intervention is completing the cultural strip along Thames’ Southbank. It is a gallery similar in many ways to the neighbouring international institutions, but this ones sits on the riverbed, on the unfriendly side of the bank. It seems to be an outsider compared to the other pristine and effi cient spaces. There are too many constraints. The presence of the river is overwhelming on this man-made structure. The space is accessible at low-tide only. The water takes over the space at high tide. It belongs to the river as much as the city, it is shared between the two.

Royal Festival HallCounty Hall Haward gallery

The Flooded Gallery

63

Thames r

iver

Flooded spaces Thames river

Southbank Center

Tate Modern

Cultural spaces

Tate Modern’s Turbine hallNational Theater British Film Institute

64

Retaining Wall

Pier

Access

Access

Cut-Off Space

Gallery

Gallery

Upstream

Downstream N

4.10 Ar tif icial t idal landscape shaped by the stream

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The design of the buildings and the landscape refl ect the importance of the river. The shapes obtained house the programme but are mainly due to the dreadful environment. They play with the scouring effect of the fl ow, theoretically letting it happen in certain places and using sedimentation in others.The landscape is created by inserting retaining walls into the riverbed. The walls are placed in order to form 3 islands carrying a building each and several steps and pools along the banks. The intervention is mainly vertical. The modifi cation of the surface level is only due to natural scouring and sedimentation. The horizontal textures remains the original ones of the riverbed.

Each building sits on its own island, each of them at a different height with a unique bridge. The tide times defi ne the access to each island.Each island on the side support a gallery based on the design of a standard white cube. However, they get fl ooded twice a day by the river. A venue is buried inside the central island. The door and skylights are the only visible objects. It get cut-off from the land at high tide twice a day. Performances happen when people get locked in. It lasts from 4 to 6 hours. The programme varies according to the time of the lock-in.

Level lines: 0.5m from Chart Datum

66

Oxo Tower

Bridge Tidal Space

Former Riverbed

Modified RIverbedSouth Bank120 metresSouth Bank

4.11 Encroaching upon the Riverbed

The intervention remains withtin the low-depth area along the South Bank. It doesn’t disrupt the boat traffi c on the rest of the tide. The visible impact of such construction is quite minimal as they are below the level of the walkway.

67

High Tide

Low Tide

North BankWaterwayCentral London160 metres

1:750

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1 - Low Tide - 0 hour / 1 meter

For an average tide, the lowest water level is 1 meter above the Zero.

The riverbed is fully accessible at low tide, the land available is at its maxi-mum.

4.12 From low to high tide - The stream through the landscape

The site and the building live at the rhythm of the tide. The water comes in and out twice a day. The accessibility of the riverbed and the spaces depends on the height of the water. The diagrams below are calculated for a standard tide going for low to high in 6 hours. The intensity of the tide and storm surges may vary the actual water level as well as the timing. They also represent the power of the stream according to the time.

100

2 3 4 5 6Time

Hours

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Water Height

Meter

Max Water Level

Max High Tide

Min High Tide

Max Low Tide

Datum

Max Water Level

Max High Tide

Min High Tide

Max Low Tide

Water Level

Datum

3 h

0 h

5 h

4m

1m0/12

6/12

11/12

6.5m

6 h

12/12

7m4 h

9/12

5.5m

1

2

3

4

5

1 h

1/12

1.5m

2 h2.5m

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69

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2 - Mid-Low Tide - 2 hours / 2.5 meters

As the tide comes up, 2 hours after the low tide, the level of the water is 2.5 meters above the Zero.

All the spaces are still accessible, the available riverbed has reduced none-theless without major change.

3 - Mid Tide - 3 hours / 4 meters

At mid-tide, which happens about 3 hours after the low tide, the water is 4 meters above the Zero.

While some of the spaces are already flooded, the others are about to be as well. This the moment of transition when the water goes up the quickest, fl th f t t d th th i h

4 - Mid-High Tide - 4 hours / 5.5 meters


The is only a disconstructed portion of land that remains available. The three buildings are visible, they are 3 concrete shapes coming out of the water.

5 - High Tide - 6 hours / 7 meters


The riverbed is fully covered, the stairs acceding to it lead into the water. The 3 buildings are still visible, but don’t seem high enough to shelter anything. S k t f th i th iddl

70

While the galleries come out as large concrete blocks, covered with the river’s dirt, the venue space is mostly undergroud. Only the entrance and the light chimney come out.

Only the topography of the riverbed changes. The textures remains the same, sediments cover the whole landscape even the bridges.

The access to the riverbed is eased with long and wide steps inviting the pedestrian onto the Thames.

The modifi ed toppograpy and the few follies along the riverbed may be used to exhibit art or only to stroll around or as a playground.

3.5 m above chart datum, it re-mains accessible for about 3 to 4 hours two times a day.

5 m above chart datum, it re-mains accessible for about 5 to 6 hours two times a day, and cut-off for two times 6 to 7 hours in a row.

4.5 m above chart datum, it re-mains accessible for about 4 to 5 hours two times a day.

4.13 Three islands, three spaces, one landscape

Open Air Gallery

Buildings

Textures

Access

Landscape

Tidal Venue Covered Gallery

Entran

ce

Chim

ney

Light chimney

Covered

Open Air

Thames River

Upper Ground Gardens

Gallery

Tidal Venue

Gallery

Gabriel’s Wharf

Media center

OXO tower

Walkway

Walkway

Bassin

Platform

Pier

Pier

Steps

Steps

1:1000

1

4.14 Night at high tide, late after noon at low tide

2

74

600

130

684

8 100

5

Maintenance Network

Sediments

Steel

High Tide

Low Tide

4.15 Ar tif icially shaped riverbed - Details

Despite the modifi cations of the area surrounding the three buildings, the artifi cial landscape remains relatively natural. Sheet piles, pools and bridges are the structures shaping the place, yet the main building material is the river soil itself and the main building tool is the stream. The riverbed is the fl oor texture all over the area. The galleries and the bridges are also padded with soil for continuity and for better grip and drainage.

The bridges connecting the islands to the ground get submerged when the tide comes in. They are made out of steel and behave as a beam. They carry the energy and water supply for the spaces as well as bring back the brown water to London sewage system. They are designed to have little infl uence on the fl ow while maintaining their properties. The bridges are 6 metres wide and 1 metre deep for a span from 10 to 13 metres.

Bridge covered with sediments after remaining under water for more than 50 years in a reservoir, USA

The bridge and the sheet pile have the same rusty texture. The bridge is layered with sediments for grip and continuity of texture.

75

At low-tide the landscape is fully accessible and the venue space is inactive. The area becomes an extension of the promenade with several follies laid around.

When the tide comes in, the water chases people to the secure land on the bank or otherwise, some voluntary prisoners accept to be locked in the cut-off venue for several hours and experience the performances.

BridgeFormer Riverbed

Tidal SpaceFormer Riverbed

76

4.16 Inside the flooded gallery

The fl ooded galleries house art shows in the same way that a white cube gallery does. Temporary installation by invited artists are exposed, visitors can have a look at the show during opening hours. The difference is that the characteristics of the space are not exactly from the ones of a traditional gallery. Due to the daily fl ooding of the place, the walls are damp and covered with seaweeds, the fl oor is the Thames’ riverbed which is a wet mix of stones and sand and, fi nally, the artwork also gets fl ooded. The artist may or may not produce his artwork considering the fl ooding event as much as he may or may not shape his artwork according to the traditional situation of the white cube. Some claim that the fl ooding is unecessarily constraining. Others argue that it is just a different constraint from the white cube’s one, and that, at least, doesn’t pretend to be not constraining.

Anthony Gormley, Another place, 1997

The empty fl ooded gallery Sculpture of Buddha after a month in the gallery

77

Sectional collage of the fl ooded covered gallery at low tide. Looking East.

78

Open-Air Gallery1:500

4.17 The two galleries

The open-air fl ooded gallery

Besides the tide constraining the access to the gallery and fl ooding the space leaving marks on the artwork, the volume is deprived from a ceiling. The weather also affect the visitors experience. A lighting system is featured all around the top edge of the cube to allow the gallery to be visited at night. The lights are high enough to remain out the water anytime. The dimension of the inner room and the lighting quality are potentially the ones of a standard white cube gallery.The building is made out of concrete and the outer shell is designed considering the river fl ows. It is supposed to reduce eddies and prevent the sediments on the island from being scoured away. The shape of the island is also designed according to the waterfl ow.The fl oor of the gallery space is 3.5 meters above chart datum. It remains accessible for about 3 to 4 hours two times a day.

Max Water

Max High Tide

Min High Tide

Max Low Tide

Chart Datum

N

79

Flooded Gallery1:500

The covered fl ooded gallery

The covered gallery is similar to the open-air one in many ways. The main difference is that it has a ceiling. It is protected from bad weather and the lighting is different. The light quality is similar to the one found in Zumthor’s museum in Bregenz. The whole ceiling acts as a diffused light source thanks to a layer of transculent glass placed between the gallery space and the neon light source. The lights are high enough not to be fl ooded. The ceiling is detached from the supporting walls in order to let the space breath and dry at low tide. However, the enclosed volume is supposed to have a different atmosphere due to smell and Thames depot. The design of the outter shell is also slightly different due to different fl ows happening at this point.The fl oor of the gallery space is 4.5 meters above chart datum. It remains accessible for about 4 to 5 hours two times a day.

Max Water

Max High Tide

Min High Tide

Max Low Tide

Chart Datum

N

80

1:500N

Theatre

Cloakroom

Maintenance

Entrance

To the Bank

Forum

4.18 The tidal venue

Unlike the galleries, the tidal venue can be visited at high and low tide. The visitors comes inside when the water is out and no performance happen. Just before the tide cuts the island off the land, a loud siren warns people that they either have to leave or fi nd refuge inside the venue. The volontary prisoners then attend the shows and remain there until the river free them out. This lock-in happens twice a day and lasts from 5 to 6 hours. According to the time of the day or night it gets locked in, the programme changes - talk, concert, play, dance, nap, ...The space is a large concrete box buried into the island. The volume is divided into two main areas, the amphitheater and the forum. The

theater’s ‘stage‘ doesn’t have a front or a back, performers and visitor are welcome to merge. It is the lowest surface and is visible from any point inside - it is the brightest and highest area. The high steps surrounding the stage are the informal seating, they lead to the forum where people can seat, eat and drink around the main fi replace at tables or in the alcoves cast in the concrete shell. A series of smaller fi replaces separate the theatre from the forum. From outside, the venue is mostly underground the island and its south facing beach. Only the concrete blocks of the light cannon, the chinmey and the door appear. Sometimes, lights and sounds come out too.

Underground activity when the tide is high

The quiet space at low tide

3

4.19 Low and high tide along Southbank

4

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