A CONVENTION CENTER:

A Typological Approach to the Design of an Institutional Building

by
Peter Lloyd
B.Sc. (Econ.) University of Hull, 1969
Ph.D. Ohio State University, 1975

SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE AT THE
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
JUNE 1989

w Peter Lloyd 1989. All rights reserved.

The author hereby grants to M.I.T. permission to reproduce and distribute copies
of this thesis document in whole or in part

Signature of the Author_______ ________ _ ._ __

Peter Lloyd, Department of chitecture
March 6, 1989-

Certified by - o h
Lecturer
Thesis Supervisor

Accepted by-
ARCHIVEI Bill Hubbard Jr.
Chairnmmiu Q ent Committee on Graduate Studies
OF TECHN0L OGV
18
JUN 0269 1989
UORARISA
A Convention Center: A Typological process, the first part of this study is a
Approach to the Design of an discussion intended to define and clarify
Institutional Building the term.

by Peter Lloyd The second part of the study is a

design exploration that takes up some of
Submitted to the Department of the issues raised in this discussion.
Architecture on March 6, 1989, in Since the project is a convention center,
partial fulfillment of the requirements a form of building for which no
for the Degree of Master of Architecture precedents are widely agreed upon, the
question of how to conceptualize a new
ABSTRACT building type is posed. One of the oldest
institutional building types, the
If the analysis of an architectural monastery, is assessed as a possible
design problem suggests the use of prototype. The assumption is not that
references and historical precedents, the Cistercian monastery was a
how should these be selected? Once convention center all along, but that the
selected, how can similarities or basic morphology of its plan suggests
contradictions between the references planning principles with a wider
and the problem at hand be evaluated? institutional application. This
Simply put, how can a body of hypothesis is tested by using these
references be assembled and then made principles to evaluate the plans of
part of the design process? several twentieth-century buildings.

As a concept, type provides a part of Thesis Supervisor: Tom Chastain

the answer to these questions. Since Title: Lecturer
there is no consensus on the meaning
and viability of this idea within a design

i
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Tom Chastain f or
his willingness to give his time and
advice. Beyond his commitment to
architecture and teaching, which will
help set my own standards for
professionalism in both, he taught me
that above all else to design is to think
clearly.

Stanford Anderson read and commented

on the text and helped clarify my
thinking. John Habraken provided
advice in posing some of the theoretic:al
issues. Among many conversations with
student colleagues those with Jonath.a n
Teicher stand out for their convivial
sharing of ideas.

Nader and Anne Darehshori along wit.h

Claudia Regan acted as my "clients" arid
gave me a sense for some of the socia.l
dynamics of a business convention.

To Damaris for her support.

ii
A Convention Center: A
Typological Approach to the Design
of an Institutional Building

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract
ii
Acknowledgments

PART ONE PART TWO

Type and the Use of Design A Convention Center
References 1 for Hog Island

O An Operational Definition 11 The Site 38

of Type 1 El The Program 44
O The Cistercian Monastery El The Guest Rooms 56
as a Type 8
0 Twentieth-Century Examples Bibliography and Notes 64
of the Monastery Type 18

iii
PART ONE

TYPE AND THE USE OF DESIGN

REFERENCES

An Operational Definition of Type

The idea of type is grounded in

eighteenth-century rationalism and its
confidence that the encyclopedia could
codify all knowledge. The first explicit
formulation of the concept was
developed by Quatremere de Quincy in
his Dictionnaire historigue de
'architcture. He drew an important
distinction between type and model.
For him type was "the original reason
for the thing, which can neither
command nor furnish the motif or the
means of exact likeness, with the idea of
the model the complete thing, which is
bound to a formal resemblance."
Quatremere's theory was a polemic
against free expression in architecture

1
and although he talked of "imitative institutional buildings for which exact
character" as opposed to mere copying historical precedents did not always
and the "rules of grammar" that could exist. The approach that he made to the
be derived from neo-classical forms, his hospitals, prisons, barracks, arsenals
prescriptions were not explicitly and bridges was based principally on
operational. His essay on type was that of construction. Durand expressed
published without diagrams or the principles upon which he saw
drawings. It was, as Anthony Vidler architecture as being based in these
points out, "hardly a working principle words:
of design." 1 Nor did Quatremere's "1. The objects that architecture uses,
theory anticipate how the building that is to say, the elements of the
would respond to various user structures.
expectations expressed as a program. 2. The combination of these elements,
in other words, the composition in
This issue was addressed by Jean general; and
Nicholas Louis Durand, a contemporary 3. The assembly of these combinations
and countryman of Quatremere, who in in the composition of such and such a
his capacity as a Professor at the Ecole structure in particular." 2
Polytechnique developed a pedagogical Key to this rationalist approach was
approach to teaching architecture to the the use of the grid to demonstrate the
military engineers who were his deployment of the major structure.
students. Durand was less interested in Various classes of buildings were
discussing the aesthetic fine points of described by the deployment of
high architecture than he was in particular building elements: columns,
offering a synopsis of the kind of piers, pilasters, walls, doors, etc. on an

2
 orthogonal grid (fig 1). In addition to
conceptualizing architecture as the
placement of construction elements on a
modular grid, Durand also offered a
TT T TTT T T T
synopsis of representative examples of
various building types. In the foreword
to Recueil et parallele des edifices de
tout genres anciens et modernes. he
explained, "I classified the edifices and
monuments according to their kinds; I
arranged them in order of their degree
of likeness; in addition I drew them to
the same scale." This was nothing less
than a radical doctrine, since it proposed
a flexible response to the needs of a
building program. Durand held that a
flexible response to use was more
significant than matters of style or
architectural language. 3 But through
its dissemination in handbooks and
manuals and its systematization by the
teaching at the Ecole des Beaux Arts,
this "pragmatic" doctrine became a
Fig. I generic one. It was this aspect of

3
typological thinking that the Modern Gropius "created an architectural style
Movement reacted against. Walter and spread a vocabulary of industrial
Gropius expressed the new ideology in forms that were quite removed from
these terms: "A breach has been made industrial processes." The result was a
with the past, which allows us to loss of symbolic meaning, especially
envision a new aspect of architecture given the fact that the language was not
corresponding to the technical explicated. According to this argument,
civilization that we live in; the architecture was being starved of its
morphology of dead styles has been meaning at the same time as it was
destroyed; and we are returning to becoming too rigid to respond to new
honesty of thought and feeling." 4 functional needs. 5
By the 1960's, the Modern Movement Again the contention turns on a
was itself accused of being generic and definition of typology which is too
formulistic. For Robert Venturi this was simplistic. Alan Colquhoun speaks of
too simple an answer: "The Moderns "typological problem-solution
employed a design method based on complexes" by which he means the sort
typological models and developed an of abstract knowledge that can become
architectural iconography based on their part of the design process. He also feels
interpretation of the progressive that type is the way that more general
technology of the Industrial Revolution. architectural meaning is conveyed as a
This would not have been a problem but common cultural property. 6
for the uncritical ubiquitous application At issue here are a number of
of the architectural language so questions:
derived." He went on to argue that
4
 1. If new building types are a response reconfigured, then it can both analyze
to programs for which there are no and describe historical forms and
historical precedents then a response inform current design problems.
which relies only on the program soon The weakness of the historical
devolves into shallow planning without approach alone is manifest in Nikolaus
any architectural significance. The Pevsner's A History of Building Types.
inference is that a complex program can The author is quite candid "My selection
spin a unifying architectural conception from all of these possible types has
out of control. The implication is that a been to some extent arbitrary."
direct functional approach to the Although the commentary does watch
program is not the answer. for changes in function and planning,
2. If a purely functional response is the organization of the material reflects
ahistorical then it risks being simplistic "the order in which styles follow one
because it ignores the iconographic and another." This is a descriptive
symbolic meaning that resides in the narrative of building projects with little
historical continuities of form. But new or no attempt to deal with typology at a
institutional programs presume new conceptual level. 7
buildings for which no types exist in What is needed is a way in which
history. The implication is that existing comparisons between buildings can be
types are transformed and that a easily and accurately made. But the
typological approach need not assume tendency is for consistent notational
complete building types. systems to become conceptually rigid
3. If type is used to refer to a series of and devolve into nothing more than
fundamental elements that can be taxonomies. This, as we have seen

5
above, runs the danger of creative
design being replaced by a formalism
based on the architectural language laid
out by the taxonomy. One way of
avoiding this dilemma is to make the
distinction between type as a built form
and as a concept.
As a concept describing the
configuration of built and spatial
elements, type is an intellectual system.
If the relationships in the configuration
are invariable, then what is being
described is not a type but a model. It
is easy to see that any example of a
built type would require an infinite
number of systems to describe it
completely. This raises the issue of the
level of abstraction that is appropriate.
8
For G. C. Argan the simplifying
abstractions conceptualized by type are
meaningful only when the different
levels of built intervention are thought
about separately. Thinking appropriate

6
 to an understanding at the scale of
urban intervention may not make sense
at the level of the building, while
thinking at the level of detail can be
carried on independent to any
understanding of the building's major
structure. Within these levels, he uses
the idea of type less to describe
functional classifications of buildings
than to understand the morphology
whereby building types evolved: "the
formal solution which, little by little,
developed in order to answer that need
in its historical development." 9
John Habraken picks up these same
threads. He too understands type as a
rule system that allows designing and
building to be harmoniously conducted
by many players. The results of this
activity are the various built types
themselves. When these rules are
widely followed, it usually means that
they are not questioned and are an
implicit part of the culture. In such

7
 0
cases the typological information is the
building itself. Although attempts to
describe type involve abstraction and
reduction which "destroys the holistic
power of the type," it is possible to
make these descriptions. "The type can
be described in many ways, as a spatial
system, as a combination of technical
systems, as a system of facades and
decorations." Systems showing the
configuration of elements of a particular --- l 20 40

type have a coherence understood in

terms of a theme. Thematic systems are Fig. 2.1 Eberbach Monastery
themselves understood in terms of the
hierarchical relationship between their
elements, their capacity, the
implications of the territorial claims
made within them, and the geometry of
their organization. 10

The Cistercian Monastery as a Type

These buildings seem relevant to the

design of a conference center for a

8
 number of reasons. Not only do the
monasteries represent a sustained effort
to plan and build for the collective life
Typological Elements:
but the liturgical insistence on affiliation
Cloister
Major Space meant that collective space was
Secondary Spaces developed in a very dynamic way. The
formulation for realizing these
objectives evolved slowly over a long
period. Monastic rules established the
same basic plan after the prototype had
The Cloister organizing been built at Fontenay between 1130
the main spaces and 1140. The asceticism of this
particular order eschewed architectural
The cloister as access elaborations and the basics of this plan
to the main spaces were replicated over seven hundred
times.
If we concentrate on the principles
which explicate just the plan, it is
The cloister sets up possible to describe a representative
an organizing monastery as a type made from the
geometry. following elements: a major built space,
an ensemble of secondary built spaces
of various sizes, a courtyard and a
cloister. These elements are invariably

9
 metres 10 20

feet 25 50

Fig. 2.2 Le Thoronet Monastery

As at Eberbach the cloister is
transformed from an orthogonal
form to meet site conditions.
This form organizes the growth of
the complex.

10
 5 10 15

fe"t 20 40

Fig 2.3 Maulbronn Monastery

11
organized around a clearly articulated
center. The key to this relationship is
the open and naturally lit courtyard.
The primacy of this space is further
emphasized by surrounding the court
LIII U
with a cloister which forms the access Fig. 2.4 Cloister as Node
O Access makes a circuit.
system. Territorially the precinct of the
O This circuit as a built form.
court and cloister control the spaces OThe form is given light in
leading off from them. Courtyard and the center.
cloister also set up a geometry which
organizes the other elements. These A
relationships are diagrammed for a
representative selection of monastery t iwlz -L ' - ' -
plans. (fig 2) '

Centering light, access and geometry

creates an inward focus for the
monastery as an institution. The most
important manifestation of the
collective life is the open precinct
surrounded by the perambulatory. This Fig. 2.5 Node as an Organizer
0 The node organizes built spaces
form was built in response to the of different sizes
liturgical procession, but also served the O The node sets up the geometry
needs of monks reading alone and organizing the growth of these
meeting together as small groups. So spaces
12
Fig 2.6 Heiligenkreuz Monastery

13
well does this form engender essential
aspects of the collective life that a wider
application than the monastery is
suggested.
Variations in the Cistercian monastery
type although small are significant. The
relationship between the major space
and the cloister are invariable in all
examples with only minor changes in
size. The number and organization of
the secondary spaces is what gives this
type its considerable capacity and
flexibility. At the scale of the Clairvaux
Monastery (fig 3), these planning
principles are capable of giving
coherence to institutional complexes of
considerable size. 11 A series of courts
and cloisters is linked by an extended
access system. This system is generated
by an extension of the cloister.
Although the courts and cloisters still
organize the auxiliary spaces attached to
them, a hierarchy among these centers
is clearly denoted by size.

14
Fig. 3 Monastery Complex as a
Series of Linked Nodes
0 Although Clairvaux is organized
around several cloisters or nodes, the
form as a whole is centered by being
a spatial hierarchy
0 By setting up planning possibilities
around each cloister two levels of
flexibility in planning are possible

15
 It is a commonplace of architectural
history that such monastic forms
exerted an extended legacy in
institutional building. Peter Collins does
well to remind us that even as late as
1750 it was one of the few prototypes
for institutional building. 12 One would
be tempted to suggest that since the
Reformation, hospitals and colleges had
been moved into monastery buildings
and the form was conveyed by
historical chance. But early built
examples of hospitals, for instance at
Kues and Brunelleschi's Oepedale Degli
Innocenti, are easy to describe in terms
of the Cistercian Monastery type (fig 4).
The case that it was the excellence of 9
the form that explains such borrowings
is rather ironically made by one of Fig. 4 Kues Hospital as a Cloister
Durand's plates. Although the cloister Organization
form is maintained, its potential as a
means for flexible planning is rendered
ineffective by its being contained within
a symmetrical closed form. (fig 5)

16
 Rbwd. .
A AIOFITA,'W
A " f-

S-t I. N S*-e.

E-
El a
4] -4-4---4----04-~-
8 : 0 EI
B3
E3

Fig. 5 Cloister forms where the decision to

fix the peremeter and use axial organization
results in a loss of flexible
planning.
17
Twentieth-Century Examples of the
Monastery Type

The Monastery of Sainte-Marie de La

Tourette is as interesting for how Le
Corbusier remained true to a twelfth-
century monastery form as for how he
transformed it. The program was
essentially the same as that for any of
the monasteries looked at earlier with
the exception that the monks would
have cells instead of sharing a dorter.
In responding, Corbusier drew directly
from a lifetime of speculation on the
monastery as a type. The impression
that the Charterhouse of Ema made on
the architect when he first saw it as a 9

young man is well documented. (fig 6)

Le Corbusier's own words record how
the building made him "conscious of the
harmony which results from the
interplay of individual and collective Fig. 6
life when each results favourably on the "The Charter House of Ema"
other. Individuality and collectivity The Galluzo Monastery

18
 understood as a fundamental dualism."
13
The forms of La Tourette can be
perceived as a transformation of those
of the Cistercian monastery of Le
Thoronet which Le Corbusier visited
before begining work on his own
monastery design. (fig 7) Colin Rowe
draws attention to the "tension between
longtitudinal and transverse
movements"; Boesiger to the way "the
circulation connects all the parts, in
particular those which appear in a new
form (the achievement of the traditional
cloister form is rendered impossible
here by the slope of the terrain)."
What remains unsaid by both these
critics is that the collective life of the
monastery has to do with walking the
circuit of the main precinct. 14
Typically this conception is most
succinctly expressed by the architect
himself: "I tried to make a place of
Lo-er floor meditation, research and prayer for the

Fig. 7 19
preaching brothers. The human
resonances of this problem guided our
work...I imagined what forms, contacts,
circulation would be needed so that
prayer, liturgy, meditation and study
U..... 1Eli

would go on comfortably in this house."

15 One level of flexibility
To realize these objectives, Corbusier
accepted the significance of the cloister,
which became the organizing principle
L%%I 0

of La Tourette. But the form of the . -]

cloister was significantly transformed

by being expressed not just at ground
E*-L:0
level but on each of the building's four
major levels. At any one level the Two Levels of flexibility
cloister does not allow a complete
perambulation of the central space.
Apart from the roof level which is open Fig. 7.1
to the elements and the view, the other Although broken open in plan, the cloister
parts of the cloister are enclosed but form is still made to function as a node by
only by glazing, which enables the being held together by circulation and light.
whole of the cloister form to be This allows the possiblility that each element
revealed by movement through it. A of the form can reflect independent planning
decisions. Another level of flexibility is
consequence of developing the section made possible by this division.
20
 ........ ma

Fig.~~~~ 7.2 C.iseratLaToret

An ~c.iserfo..i~ opne~ ~ .

coplte by. ihtan.vew

21
in this way is to allow the cloister to be
separated from the ground and the
largest built space opening the building
to the landscape. (fig 8)
By contrast Louis Kahn's project for a
convent is an unsuccessful attempt to
work with this monastery type. The
program anticipated the traditional
forms of cloister, chapel, refectory,
school, library and rooms for the nuns
to live in. All of the schemes proposed
for this design consist of a building
cluster contained within a cloister for m
opened on one side.
In terms of the monastery type,
Kahn's scheme broke the cloister form
into a series of segments which were
not as in La Tourette reconfigured into a
unified form. This abandoned the chief
strategy for making the center. Instead
a partial cloister is made into a
containing form but without deriving
any organizing geometry. Although
Kahn argued "the elements of the plan Fig. 7.3 Access Circuits at La
Tourette
22
I.
#0
CS
4C
CI
0.
0 -
4...
C
are almost floating, taking their position
either from the contours of the hill brow
or from the search for connection with
the neighboring building," the scheme
remains unconvincing and it was never
realized. (fig 9)
The record appears to suggest that in
fact Kahn shared the same objectives as
the early monastery builders. We are
left with this rumination: "The nucleus --a
of the very beginning monastery was 3
-- 3
not a loss but new realizations came to
it by considering the spirit of the
3
monastery. It is for this reason my
A
interest in this nucleus, in form
realization, form meaning, the tL 4. " C--
realization of inseparable parts of IV 1--
something." He also appears to have
been looking for an additive form,
"make the building find its own
connections" was the way he put it. 0

These ideas assume more coherence if

Fig. 9
they are seen as being connected to Louis Kahn: Convent for the Dominican
Kahn's long speculation on a theory of Sisters (Project)

24
9.1 Although the cloister broken open, the
form is left incomplete. The wings of the
9.2 The attempt to achieve a freedom of
cloister are segmented and additonal
planing within the court proves to be rather
separations are introduced at the corners.
convoluted while no advantage is taken of
The unifying effect of a continuity of light at
planning of the outside of the quadrangle.
the center is also given up

25
the institution which could be given connection is very easy to read. (fig 10)
expression in a form diagram. All aspects of the monastery typology
If we consider his design for the First are present in both diagram and plan.
Unitarian Church we find a much clearer A diagram of the plan from which the
example of theory and implementation. building was made makes it clear that
According to this theory, design should the issues of building, the center with
be driven less by a narrow the cloister form, are addressed here.
accommodation of program than by an Although the center in Kahn's church is
attempt to build for fundamental social the assemby room and not an open
activities implicit in the client's courtyard, it is top lit and very much
commission. the central space. Also the cloister form
According to Kahn, "one of the most allows for the flexible deployment of
important aids in the work that I do secondary spaces. 16 0

comes from the realization that any Two schemes by Alvar Aalto provide
building belongs to some institution of another opportunity to consider
man.... Institution stems from the "cloister", courtyard and attached
inspiration to live. This inspiration elements as an organizing principle
remains meekly expressed in our especially for an insitutional builiding.
institutions today. The three great As for Corbusier and Kahn, striving to
inspirations are the inspiration to learn, build for the collective life was a
the inspiration to meet and the recurrent theme in Aalto's work. Many
inspiration for well being." of Aalto's buildings in some way focus
If we consider Kahn's form diagram on a courtyard or central void. The
with the first version of the plan, the inspiration for this organizational theme

26
 dlmast ;

Al!

Tadvb

01:3 -

Fig. 10 Kahn's form diagrams for the First

Unitarian Church and a comparison with a
diagram showing the relationship of the
elements of cloister, major space and
secondary spaces.

27
cannot be explained as the borrowing of
a monastery form. The motif of a
grouping of subsidiary elements around
a central core is found in other sources
used by the architect. The open clusters
of Karelian farm (fig 11) buildings
provide one source and the atrium
house and Roman forum are two others.
17
U N

To some extent the use of one source LI

over another influenced the approach

taken. For example the open cluster of
Aalto's summer house at Muuratsalo can 3

be seen as an interpretation of the

vernacular farm buildings of the region.
Saynatsalo town hall, on the other hand,
uses more delineated ordering
principles whose origins could be
deduced as Roman civic forms.
It seems likely that Aalto had no
distinct prototype in mind but was
working with the elements considered
so far in our discussion. Again the Fig. 11.1 A typical cluster of Karelinian farm
implication is that typological buildings

28
 K
r)
~

@0
S

Ir

Fig. 11.2
Aalto: Summer House at
Muuratsalo
29
K 0
similarities can be made on the basis of believed that such transformations
common elements and configurations should not extend beyond the meaning
instead of shared historical prototypes. of the form. "In architecture, "he
That Aalto could design freely within claimed,"what matters is time.
the discipline of a typological approach Repetition and use makes things
is no longer taken to be a contradiction. acceptable. I do not mean copying, but
Demetri Porphyrios draws attention to letting time distill thought without
what he calls a typological drive in destroying it. Our 'sentiments are
Aalto's thinking. This, as Colquohoun excited only because we have memory."
mentions, makes for a surprising 18
connection between him and Corbusier. This suggests that Aalto's conception
Part of Aalto's sureness with of type was a way of thinking of spatial
typological forms came from his units and not whole buildings. A
conviction that they are carried in the discussion of the fan shape in Aalto
culture and have an associational value buildings is a familiar one. Although an
which allows architecture to expedient shape for auditoria, Aalto's
communicate. For example in Western application of the form was much wider
culture, the town hall has long been than this and the form was used
associated with the open court. Aalto's pragmatically for library spaces
neo-classical training gave him the focusing on a circulation desk and on a
sense that valid historical forms were larger scale to unite different building
the language of architecture. But in his geometries.
hands form language was not imitation A planning process relying on the free
but transformation. Still, Aalto strongly manipulation of typological elements

30
 has to contend with how these elements
come together. Peter Blundell Jones,
referring generally to Aalto's post-War
institutional buildings, describes the
implications for circulation: "The
articulation of volumes each according
to its own rules and expressing its own
purpose, produced dynamic in-between
spaces used as entrance halls and foyers
taking their character from the more
positive elements around them and
from their linking function rather than
as defined enclosures in their own
right." 19
This should not lead us to suppose
that circulation is simply left-over space
in Aalto's buildings as we can see by
looking again at Saynatsalo town hall.
The plan shows similarities to La
Tourette. But small very significant
changes in the configuration make the
difference between a closed hierarchical
institution which is partially opened to
fig 11.3
Aalto: Saynatsalo Town Hall nature and an open democratic

31
institutional form which is only partly
closed to nature. The difference lies in
the way the circulation system is
handled. At Saynatsalo the entrance is
into the grassy court with the option of
leaving again. The open court is a
physical and spatial mediator between
the primary and secondary spaces. In
La Tourette the circulation serves as a
direct conduit with the courtyard space ......... -.. ...

serving merely as a processional

interval In La Tourette the building
forms the court; in Saynatsalo the court
in a real sense forms the building. (fig
12) The institutional intentions in the
Wolfsburg Cultural Center are also to
provide an open forum in a municipal
setting. But the setting is the noisy
center of a bleak industrial town and
Fig. 12 The cloister form is opened up into
not a village in the woods. The response
not two but three elements. Each can be
is again to raise the courtyard but this independently planned. In additon the form
time to protect it by the building. Again can respond to an external access system.
a well lit perambulatory in a cloister Aalto has added another layer of flexibility
form is used as the intermediary to this organizational type.

32
between the major space, in this case
the cluster of auditoria, and the
secondary spaces. Again the cloister
does not complete its circuit. At
Saynatsalo the fourth side of the quad is
left open; at Wolfsburg it is dropped
below the court level and becomes the
major circulation spine for the building
at street level. This plays out another
theme of La Tourette, that of splitting
the complete cloister between different
levels. (fig 13)

33
 t
'0 --

'S

- £Tht?~ ~

pp
9

34
Fig. 13
Aalto: Wolfsburg Cultural
Center

35
PART TWO

A CONVENTION CENTER FOR

HOG ISLAND

36

9
37
The Site 9

The usefulness of the type being

discussed depends on how well it can
accommodate the conditions of the site
and the requirements of the program.
Site observations were organized into an
analytical description that provides
clues for the siting of the building as
well as its form. As the maps indicate,
the site is a group of islands within a
tidal estuary. Both the island and its
surroundings are in their natural state.
This was simplified into three main
elements:
1. The configuration created by the
three islands
2. The topography and woods covering
most of Hog Island
3. Views and solar orientation
The first scenario introduced was that
of arriving at the site. A number of
positions were taken:

38
I - mile -- . 400 feet

39
0 The building should be visible from P,

Argilla Road.
' Arrival should be either from the
mainland by crossing Long Island and
taking a ferry to Hog Island or directly
by boat.
o Movement through the site was seen
as a path system connecting the three
distinctive places which were seen as:
A. The harbor
B. The hill
C. The long meadow.
A crucial consideration in siting the
building was that it should favor the
network of paths which would not only
serve the places above but do it by
making the best advantage of the
landscape, which is to say, by tending to
The relationship between site places and the
remain parallel to the contours as path system which takes best advantage of
opposed to crossing them; by being the site.
guided by existing edge conditions, for
instance the woods defining the edge of
Long Meadow; and by seeking the best
views. 20

40
 Since the site is a series of sloping
(approximately 1:10) flanks around a
hill rising 173 feet above sea level,
building on these slopes was decided
upon, especially when confirmed by
considerations of path, view, solar Solar Orientation and Major Views
orientation and place. The building was
broken into two main components to be
developed in a linear fashion parallel to
the contours. This allowed the major
access to be kept on the same level. The
hill was left alone but considered for the
part it could play in unifying the
scheme.

41
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The planning scheme as a response to path, The Planning Scheme as a Transformation of

place view and solar orientation. the Traditional Monastery Form

42
The site plan as an interpretation of the
planning scheme.

43
The Program spaces. With these elements in mind a
To give form to any institution number of issues were raised:
requires anticipating activities as 1. Should groups of activities be
categories of space needs. Lawrence B. segregated into the same area?
Anderson summed up these categories 2. Which activities would benefit from 0

for one conference center as reception, sharing the same or adjacent spaces?
conference rooms, offices, dining rooms 3. Which activities should be allocated
and kitchen, auditorium and staff their own exclusive space?
accommodation. He did not confuse this Discussion of these questions led to an
sort of planning as being the final agreement that the functioning of this
design. "For clarity these spaces are particular institution predicted four
grouped in categories, although [theyl discrete sets of spaces:
may well merge and overlap. Above all 1. A space (a restaurant for instance) to
there is the wish to avoid the sin of too which the public could have free access.
great precision, which might inhibit 2. A reception area for the convention
reformulation by the designer." 21 center with eating and drinking
I used a client group to help develop facilities adjacent.
9

Anderson's categories. The following 3. Meeting rooms and auditoria.

spaces were chosen: reception, main 4. The guest rooms and recreational
meeting area, conference rooms, eating facilities.
and drinking areas, kitchen, guest In addition, connections to the outside
rooms, exercise and recreation facilities, should be possible for all spaces except
staff offices and bedrooms, and outside the conference meeting rooms. A
condition for the guest rooms is that
44
they represent a flexible planning 3. Making a continuity of the loop by
element. The scheme should allow for other means than duplicating a cloister
the addition of extra rooms as well as form.
changes in room size. 4. Breaking the cloister form into a
Again, a planning scheme using the series of elements.
same typological elements seemed The design exploration for a
appropriate. The flexibility that allowed convention center was an attempt to
for a free response to the site also understand these issues.
provided an easy programmatic
demarcation between a collective center
and a series of individual rooms.
As we have seen, flexibility of
planning can be achieved by
manipulating the traditional monastery
type. The question of how the basic
elements of cloister with its attendant
spaces are reconfigured, without losing
the advantages of the traditional
organization, depends on how well the
following issues are addressed:
1. The use of a circulation loop as an
organizer.
2. The replication of this organization.

45
 t
Circulation to use at the upper levels.

50 Feet
0

46
The orgaUti n Of
0 these spaces by a
form cloister

.- er------

47
This main cloister is divided between the
two principal levels. This displacement
allows the main external circulation to pass
through the building without disrupting its
collective center. 0

II
I1

48
.... ...
... .. e

49
The circulation loop divided between two
levels is replicated and used to organize the
other parts of the building.

*1

50
 1. .
'r-- .:

51
The loops organize the main public spaces.

16 feet

52
 N

53
 **
..... - ...-

54
Support and Infill Systems

55
The Guest Rooms became common rooms which also
provided a light source. Corridors were
The guest rooms were organized as a always concluded with a common space.
series of single and double loaded These locations also provided a location
corridors. Rooms and corridors were for the stairs.
developed as terraces of single-story
construction. It was considered Modular coordination
important that the plan should allow for The layout for the support walls was
the construction of additional rooms based on the optimum spacing for four
and that the size of the rooms should be room sizes. Using a 4'-0" module, a
easy to change after construction. These 24'-0" spacing for the support walls,
objectives were accommodated by using allowed all combinations of room sizes
a support-infill approach. 22 The to be accommodated within the bays.
support was conceived as a series of This spacing was also compatible with
parallel bearing walls carrying concrete placing large and smaller rooms in
planks which made the roof. The infill adjacent bays to make suites.
elements were based on wood
construction.

Corridors
The objective was to limit the run of
room entrances to six and to offset room
entrances in double loaded corridors.
Junctions between short corridor runs

56
I
II
________________________________

E-*
A
U

I rd

57
 Aa;ESS ORRIDOR

I DARK ZONE ADJACENT

TO THE ENTRY

INTER-ROOM ACCESS
I 0

i
LIGHT ZONE ADJACENT
TO THE FACADE

I
0 .11
e.
Otoo.
. .. . I

Zoning
A number of use zones were set up I.
perpendicular to the support bays.
These zones were based on light, access I.
and use and served mainly to help
make the decisions of where to locate I.
the largest infill elements and where to
open the support walls to allow access
between the rooms.

58
 V (1
N
1 I

j
Cl

I
-4-

I wpI LI I [-j3 I SI
I I |I
F2 iLp IFL7I]

59
Inf ill Elements
Each guest room was understood as a
number of activity and use spaces
which were seen to be: entry, washing
and storage, socializing, sleeping and
working. The deployment of elements
within the support bays was intended to
set up discrete spaces for these
activities. The elements themselves
were broken into three classes: the
bathroom and closet "boxes," the
partition wall and study bay and the
facade.
The bathroom set up the entry zone to
the room from the corridor, and the
bathroom and the closet made a foyer
within the room. Movement of the
bathroom "box" within the support bay
established the main demarcation
between the rooms with the partition
wall and work bay setting up a series of

60

9
61
smaller space moves. Bathrooms could
either be doubled up or used by
themselves.

Facade
The facade was planned to respond
flexibly to the changing use decisions
within the rooms. All of the facade
elements are interchangeable and can
be placed within two zones. The 9'-0"
high support bays were divided at 7'-0"
by a transom which divided the facades
into two independent placement zones.
The facade also had to respect the
support walls every 24'-0".
Transparent, translucent and
opaque facade elements were used.
Horizontal and vertical integration was
organized by the window mullions
which also respected lines of sight and
horizontal use dimensions.

62
 CJ II

"IIje J A__a

63
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND NOTES 1. Quatremere de Quincy "Type" in
Encyclopedie methodique. architecture.
vol 3 pt II (Paris 1825); Anthony Vidler,
"The Idea of Type: The Transformation
of the Academic Ideal, 1750-1830"
Oppositions 8 (Spring 1977),105

2. Durand, Precis des lecons

d'architecure donnees a lEcole
Polytcghnique Paris 1802-1805 1, 4

3. Recueil et parallele des edifices de

tout genre anciens et modernes
(Princeton: Princeton Architectural
Press: 1982) foreword; See Rafael
Moneo, "On Typology" Oppositions 13
(Summer, 1978), esp 28-32

4. Walter Gropius, The New

Architecture and the Bauhaus
(Cambridge: MIT Press, 1965) 19

5. Robert Venturi, Learning from Las

V (Cambridge: MIT Press,
1972)135-136, 137, 16 2; Complexi
and Contradiction in Architecture (New
York: Museum of Modern Art, 1966, 19

64
6. Alan Colquhoun, "Typology and Atwater Press, 1983); "Control
Design Method" in Essays in Hierarchies in Complex Artifacts" Paper
Architectural Criticism: Modern for the International Design Conf.
Architecture and Historical Change Boston, 1987
(Cambridge: MIT Press, 1981) 49
11. See Wolfgang Braunfels,
7. Nikolaus Pevsner, A History of Monasteries of Western Europe (London:
Building Types (Princeton: Princeton Thames and Hudson, 1972) esp 67-110
University Press, 1976) 9, 10
12. Peter Collins, Changing Ideals in
8. See Stanford Anderson, "Types and Modern Architecture (London: Faber
Conventions in Time: Towards a History and Faber, 1965) 219; Pevsner, Ibid
for the Duration and Change of 142: Durand, Recueil et parallele p1 29
Artifacts" Perspecta 18 (1982) 109-117;
Moneo Ibid esp 23-28 13. William Curtis, Le Corbusier: Ideas
and Forms (Oxford: Phaidon, 1986) 181
9. See Micha Bandini, "Typology as a
Form of Convention" A.A. Files 6 (May, 14. Colin Rowe, "La Tourette" in The
1984) esp 75-76; Werner Oechslin, Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and
"Premises for the Resumption of the Other Essays (Cambridge: MIT Press,
Discussion of Typology," Assemblage 1 1982) 186; W. Boesiger, H. Girsberger,
(Oct, 1986) 37-52 Le Corbusier 1910-65 (Zurich: Les
Editions d'Architeckture, 1967) 266
10. N. John Habraken, "The control of
Complexity," Places 4 No. 2 (1987) 7. 8; 15. Quoted in Le Corbusier: Architect of
The Appearance of the Form the Century (London: Arts Council of
(Cambridge: Atwater Press, 1985; Great Britain, 1987) 250
Transformations of the Site (Cambridge:

65
16. For the presentation of the two (Sketches: Alvar Aalto ed., Goran Schildt
schemes discussed, including Kahn's (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1985) 83
annotations see Louis Kahn: Complete
Works. 1935-1974 ed. Heinz Ronner, 18. Coquohoun, "Alvar Aalto: Type
Sharad Jhaveri (Basel and Boston: verses Function" in Essays 75-80;
Birkhauser, 1987) 2nd. ed pp.302-3 10, Demetri Porphyrios, "The Burst of
116-123; one of institution quotes was Memory: Annessay on Alvar Aalto's
cited in John Lobell, Between Silence Typological Conception of Design" Arch
and Light: Spirit in the Architecture of Desigan49 (1979) 143-148, quote 147.
Louis Kahn (Boston: Shambala, 1979) 44
and Richard Saul Wurman, ed., What 19. "Aperspective Space" in Arch Rev
Will Be Has Always Been: The Words of 1093 (March 1987) 22
Louis I. Kahn (New York: Rizzoli, 1986)
20. Although using the term as a way
17. Norberg-Shulz describes this typical of analyzing an urban setting, Cullen *
configuration: "The buildings come defines a concept of "place" using some
either in cluster formations or in semi- of the following criteria: occupied
open enclosure arrangements." territory as defined by shade, shelter,
Christian Norberg Shulz, Timber amenity and convenience and the
Buildings of Europe (Tokyo: Edita, 1978) distinction between here and there as
243 This freedom of form is precisely established by change of level, vistas,
what appealed to Aalto. "When the closure etc. See Gordon Cullen, The
Karelian village is at its best," he wrote, Concise Townscape (New York: Van
"it uses the terrain's topography, views Nostrand, 1975) esp. 21-56. The
and other values in an instructive importance of the concept of "path" as a
manner ... Here we truly have a building form of cognition is stressed by Kevin
plan, in the best meaning of the word, Lynch, Image of the City (Cambridge:
that adapts itself to Finnish nature." MIT Press, 1960) 47, passim; and as a

66
"moving view" in Site Plani
(Cambridge: MIT Press, 1984) 205

21. Lawrence B. Anderson, "American

Academy of Arts and Sciences
Architectural Program." MSS. October 3,
1977,9.

22. N. John Habraken et al., Variations:

The Systematic Design of Supports
(Cambridge: Laboratory of Architecture
and Planning, 1976)

67