Negotiating with the future: 5 agendas for resilient architects
What we can learn from predictive methodologies in design
When observing the current trends in architecture, there is no doubt that the field is splitting, branching off, and interlocking with other areas of life, such as product design, mobility, technology and IT, and more. The needs of the societies are changing, too, and obsolete beliefs need to — and will — be challenged. You may wonder — how do architects adapt to and take advantage of these changing expectations? In Laka’s conversation with Paul Clemens Bart and Marvin Bratke, they discussed their design methodologies and recent projects, which showed the future shape of our cities shining through current fresh and resilient design thinking. As they explain, their architecture negotiates at the interface of various disciplines, functions, desires, and visions:
“Our architecture rather comes to life through the negotiation of various actors and fields. Through the intelligent use of data and predictive planning parameters, we try to become the designers of the ruleset behind our spaces. Along with this methodology comes certain flexibility, which predetermines the way we work and collaborate.”
If resiliency is the ability to overcome and thrive through challenges, what 5 things do resilient architects do, which we can learn from Paul Clemens Bart and Marvin Bratke?
1. They challenge how we think about the same old spaces.
Following the thought of anthropologist Marc Augé, airports used to be considered non-places — not significant enough to bear signs of a place, too similar to one another, transient, anonymous spaces. BART//BRATKE studio has presented a premiere project of a timber airport, which, originally submitted as an airport competition entry for Innsbruck, turned out to challenge and shatter the current rigidity of airport design.
“The challenge of (post-)pandemic air travel led us to create a universal and adaptable building kit, mainly based on renewable and recycled materials. The LEVii airport system is designed with circularity and material reuse strategies in mind that open up new business models for manufacturers, suppliers, and companies based on new subscription models in a highly customizable environment that adapts to its needs.”
The airport derives from local character and uses natural materials to convey its leading message. As such, it negates the definition of a non-place as it becomes an inclusive local hub, present in the life of the community. The designers take it a step further in its accessibility:
“With the proximity to the university campus and various sports facilities, it was important to create an airport that opens up to the public in an innovative way. Designing a large and openly accessible communal space that pinches through the complete terminal from landside to airside. We created a public space that can be occupied by businesses, restaurants, offices and other functions to become a lively and vivid environment, a marketplace, where people meet, exchange ideas and be active. In front of the airport, the classical image of a parking lot is revised to be a multifunctional area that is not sealed, largely covered in green and permeable to allow the ground to breathe. A big forum in the form of half an amphitheatre with green terraces and resting opportunities is created at the interface between the market and the public passage. These interventions are made possible inside of this open building system that can change and adapt with time”
Social inclusion is a large part of BART//BRATKE’s design processes, not only in their concepts but also in their collaborative approach to design. — is there anything more in line with the idea of an airport, where different cultures mingle together?
2. They challenge codes to achieve innovation and advance sustainability.
When asked why use timber in the era of steel and concrete optimization, the architects equivocally explain how important it is to think ahead. Natural materials and processes enriched by modern technological thought are currently becoming the high-tech of our current times.
“Steel and concrete construction advance slowly, therefore being a big part of the carbon chain today. The construction industry is responsible for 40% of the global CO² emissions worldwide, this is largely due to ineffective building materials, production and transport chains as well as the linear economy approach to construction today. In our studio we focus on the introduction of computational timber strategies as part of a larger agenda for circularity and inclusiveness in architectural design. With the prospect of a new European Bauhaus, announced by the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, our studio works actively on the agendas of the EU Green New Deal focusing on renewables and circular building strategies. We research on these topics in our academic positions, i.e. at our studio at TU Graz or our workshop on computational timber strategies at the UCL Bartlett. Using our research in reconfigurable, non-permanent material solutions and scalable timber construction lead to proposals for innovative spatial strategies for multifunctional building typologies. One output of these joint research efforts in academia and practice is our circular airport system LEVii.
Today’s rise of the use of timber in high-rise construction can be again retraced to advances in different areas: Besides being a renewable, CLT and massive timber construction is technologically advanced to have very good fire protection attributes and systemized production processes. Pre-fabrication is on the rise, especially in the housing and hospitality sector, where new on-demand models are tested, that again influence the architectural process.”
Additionally, Marvin Bratke and Paul Clemens Bart research how modular construction could create new opportunities.
“Technological progress, responsive governance, environmental protection, social awareness and market economy are all drivers to advance the systemic progress in timber construction. Deforestation is an issue that is and in the future will be tackled with intelligent monitoring systems and clever and responsive governance as well. The production process for timber is already highly optimized. Certificates for the timber quality, their footprint and its cultivation are formed while we speak. Local use and optimized digital design-to-production chains will play an important role to guarantee CO² optimized production cycles. Software development and peer-to-peer networks can help linking producers and consumers directly.”
3. They are continuously and dynamically predicting the trends in mobility.
In the last few years, we observed the growing popularity of carpooling, ride-sharing, and public transportation (buses, trains, subway, etc.). However, in 2020, due to the pandemic, personal mobility has become more desired and we are observing a more common use of bikes, scooters, and personal cars to transfer from point A to point B. BART//BRATKE sees a future of mobility in greater diversification of the modes of transport.
“The rise of micro-mobility, scooters or shared bikes, has only been possible through the combination of technological advances and innovation in formerly disconnected fields like satellite technology and GPS tracking software, new and smaller sensor technology, digital payment systems, communication software, and the app market, digital data and marketing models, identification and verification software in combination with subsequent industrial design and design thinking led to the frequent rise of our shared streetscape of today.”
Shared mobility systems such as Uber, Lyft, or similar, and personal carpooling, are already well-known and fairly popular. In 2011, BART//BRATKE suggested “GEMINI”:
“It was a first advance to connect the smart grid from personal homes and flats with a shared vehicle via a mobile unit that is a battery, storage and a personal assistant all in one.”
The architects are excited to observe the expansion of new mobility systems both outside of dense metropolitan areas, and into the third dimension:
“Last year Marvin worked with Volocopter, developing and realizing the world’s first prototype for an Urban Air Mobility in Singapore. In this time, we intensively studied these new modes of travel and got a good insight into the evolving trillion-dollar industry that is creating digital infrastructures to make our airspace ready for personal travel. Our new airport system LEVii is designed to incorporate these insights into its flexible building and business model, providing a kit of parts building system and the necessary electrical and technical infrastructure that adapts to multi-modal ground and air mobility, both piloted and autonomous.”
4. They revolutionize public participation via computation.
Participatory urbanism was born in the 1960s, but only in the last two decades, we have observed many of its new hybrid forms. Currently, two paths are most commonly observed: activities initiated by a local community, or those undertaken by an organization or architects, but performed together with the local communities. What do Marvin Bratke and Paul Bart suggest?
“We think that we will create new modes of collaboration, with each other and with the software. New methodologies of coming together digitally and blurring the border to the physical reality supported by advanced computational models, generative systems and artificial intelligence. We use many of these advanced models in our academic work and implement them into our studio workflow afterwards.”
They believe that public inclusivity combined with computation will open new design opportunities:
“Collaboration and participation can be directly implemented as design tools, i.e. in a gamified environment, where many become the author of bottom up architectures.”
5. They are open to innovating via collaboration.
The great minds of our times understand and see the value of coming together in a creative discussion. This is also what Paul Bart and Marvin Bratke teach together with their students, a.o. at the Architectural Association and Cooper Union:
“We believe in pluralistic models and collaboration in design. There is not one master sketch. Space making is from many for many and by many.”
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All images — courtesy of BART//BRATKE: http://bartbratke.com/
Paul Bart and Marvin Bratke are architects, designers, and cofounders of BART//BRATKE and for-purpose organization URBAN BETA.
Paul and Marvin are actively engaging in teaching, academia, and consulting. Paul held teaching positions at universities worldwide, i.e. at the Architectural Association London, the Bartlett UCL, and the Cooper Union NYC. Marvin is a lecturer at the Institute for Architecture and Media at TU Graz. He held a visiting professorship at Muthesius Academy of Arts in Kiel. Together, they held a visiting professorship at UISEK in Quito.
The full webinar with Marvin Bratke and Paul Clemens Bart can be viewed on Laka Perspectives’ YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOGuygIiZa8
