Floating Architecture

Bauhaus Summer School, Bauhaus-University Weimar, Germany

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Course description

How to use design and material science to meet one of the biggest challenges facing mankind 

The course provides in-depth knowledge of designing and planning eco-friendly floating structures made of renewable composite materials in both theory and practice. Through a series of lectures, workshops, and guided project work, this course focuses on specific material development and understanding project-related research work. We will discuss approaches and possible solutions to pressing issues, such as the effects of rising sea levels on urban planning concepts, especially in heavily populated coastal areas and cities located near river estuaries. Here, the question of applying eco-friendly material systems play a central role: how much can floating structures with sustainable resources be realized and how can such sustainable solutions be informed by the development of new materials?

In addition to an analysis of current proposed solutions, participants will be asked to formulate possible responses for selected geographical and socio-economic hotspots with the use of eco-friendly material compounds. In guided workshops, the participants will develop their own lightweight materials from sustainable resources and characterize their qualities.

A look behind the scenes at one of Germany's most renowned research institutes, the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials in Halle, will highlight application-based research as well as underscore the vital nature of the collaboration of designers, scientists and theoreticians for future projects. Discussions and the exchange of ideas with instructional staff, research associates, and other colleagues will also enhance the participants' personal experience.

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Course instructors

Dipl.-Ing. Architect Julia Schilling

http://www.nfk-leichtbau.de/

Julia Schilling lives and works as an independent architect in Berlin. She is specialized in building within existing contexts and cultural heritage preservation emphasizing on eco-friendly building materials and in exhibition design and its implementation. Actively involved in interdisciplinary, socially and politically-oriented Projects, Schilling also engages with NGOs such as the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ).

As winner of the first prize at the international competition “Adream” in 2010 she has initiated an r&d project with the Fraunhofer Institute and the Bauhaus-University Weimar, a project sponsored by the German government. Since 2012 Schilling has been a research fellow at the Bauhaus-University Weimar.

    Dipl.-Ing. Architect  Daniel Schwabe www.synarchitects.com http://www.nfk-leichtbau.de/

Daniel Schwabe is managing partner of Synarchitects and head of the Berlin office which is specialized in energy-efficient buildings and use of natural construction materials. He lived in Beijing, China, from 2004 to 2009. In 2004, while a student at the University of the Arts UdK, Berlin he founded Synarchitects in Beijing together with Yingxi Zou. They have won several first prizes in national and international competitions.

Among the numerous built projects, for example, is the “Campus of the Fine Arts School attached to China Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing” and the Longmen Museum at the UNESCO World Heritage Site Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang. In 2010 he won first prize in the international competition “Adream” and subsequently set up an r&d project as research fellow at the Bauhaus-University Weimar together with the Fraunhofer Institute.

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Participants - complete list

The course had participants from 12 different countries. Here´s the complete list:

Akinina, Maria, Russia

Bessaoud, Kenza, Tunusia

Ciancarini, Lorenzo, Italy

Dizon, Given Jan Obleada, Philippines 

Farbod, Pedram, Iran

Jia, Hui, China

Kirkwood, David, Scotland

Lagrotta, Juliana, Brasil

Li, Jinhe, China

Malicki, Matthias, Deutschland

Men, Yongjin, China

Morillo Compres, Claudia N, Dominican  Republic

Shafik Borham, Omar Mohamed Mahmoud, UAE  

Skybinska, Yuliia, Ukraine

Wu, Yueyue, China

Zhang, Yaxiang, China

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Excursion to Halle

Visiting the Fraunhofer Institute IWM Halle and the prototype C3-House.

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Excursion to Lusatian Lakeland

IBA (International Building Exhibition) Studierhaus Großräschen Prof. R. Kuhn, Frau K. Wolf

Lake Großräschen:

- South Harbour area (construction site) 

- IBA-Terraces 

Lake Gräbensorf 

-Floating diving school

Lake Partwitz

- Floating holiday home

Lake Geierswald 

- Marina

Floating jetty at light house hotel

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The city and the sea in times of change: A tale of old time lovers - Guest Lecture

Dr. Costa Carvalho (PIK Potsdam)

Dr. Luis Costa Cavalho made his diploma degree in Environmental Engineering in June 2006 about „Spatial distribution of particulate mater pm10 in the city of Vila Rea“l. During 2006-2007 he participated in the program Leonardo DaVinci "Learn across Europe" in the Potsdam institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), exploring the sensitivity of Portuguese forest fires to climate, socio-economic and landscape factors. He contributed to the ALARM  project on Mapping changes in potential vegetation across the EU Natura 2000 network. Since July 2008 he is working on his Phd thesis on the economic consequences of sea-level rise: Costs and benefits of adaptation strategies. He is Co-worker in the 7th Framework ENSURE project on enhancing the resilience of communities and territories facing natural and na-tech hazards and Co-worker in the AdaptCosts project evaluating the adaptation costs of developing countries to climate change.

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Q&A – Video Conference

Prof. Rutger de Graaf (Delta Sync, Delft, Netherlands)

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Inaugural Speech: The Blue Revolution - Adaptive Urban Development Delta Sync, 2012 via Videostream

Prof. Rutger de Graaf  (Delta Sync, Delft, Netherlands)

Prof. Rutger de Graaf is a civil engineer, entrepeneur and researcher. He studied Civil Engineering at Delft University of Technology. After his research on water management in the Joparu river basin at Saga University in Japan, he started to work at Delft University on his PhD thesis „On the transition to more sustainable urban water management and new concepts for urban water systems to reduce the vulnerability of urban areas to clouds and droughts.“ Prof. De Graaf is one of the founders and director of Delta Sync, a multidisciplinary research and design group and leading international floating urbanization specialist, who work together to develop the first positive impact floating city in the world. Besides that ,he is also professor for Adaptive Urban Development at the Rotterdam University of Applied Science and editor of the Journal of Water and Climate Change at the International Water Association and author of multiple international books and journal articles.

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Floating residential buildings in the Lusatian lakeland - Guest Lecture

Prof. Stopp, BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg

Horst Stopp is professor for supply engineering studies and founder of the Institut for Floating Structures at Brandenburgische Technical University in Cottbus-Senftenberg. He is involved in several research topics as "Modelling + simulation of the coupled energy and mass transport - preferably heat, moisture and air transport“, " Renovation of buildings particularly effective checks on drying measures, thermal protection technical improvements worth preserving facades, Interior Insulation Systems“, „Improvement of products and technologies and calculation methods in respect of a claim-free thermal and moisture protection of building structures fencing, pipe insulation and refrigeration equipment“. He is Co-author of the specialist book „Schwimmende Wohnbauten“ and wrote more than 100 articles in books and scientific journals as author and co-author. He heald numerous lectures at home and abroad on issues of coupled heat and moisture transport in fencing, the energy-saving regulation,  problems of building restoration and challenges of building on water.

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Workshop float?! - floating architecture within spatial and urban development concepts

floating architecture within spatial and urban development concepts

In this workshop, you will identify and analyze hotspots of endangered coastal settlements and define a solution for specific challenges, by developing an innovative spatial/urban or architectural concept.

Topic

Worldwide a very large number of coastal areas and marine biotopes are faced with numerous threats like the effects of rising sea levels, environmental pollution and natural disasters. Other problems are population drift to the cities, illegal land acquisition resulting from impoverishment or the desire for profit. This occurs especially in heavily populated coastal areas and cities located near river estuaries. A new approach for urban and spatial planning concepts is required. As a result, ideas emerged to take advantage of the huge potential of using surface waters as a development space.

Going on the water though is difficult and risky. It needs special concepts, smart designs as well as improved materials and material efficiency. Today available materials for floating structures will soon be rare or too expensive to use in large scale. Eco friendly floating structures made of renewable composite materials could be a solution.

Watch pictures on Flickr...

Task

1. Define the location

Make an internet research to find a specific location in a coastal or marine region as a hotspot for an application of a floating structure or system. Define it as exactly as possible by country, climate zone, political and economical system, geopolitical status, possible structural change, risk of disasters (e.g. hurricanes and typhoons, tsunamis, floods). Formulate the surrounding landscape or cityscape, eco system and hydrologically relevant parameters. Analyze the population/ethnics and their social and cultural background as well as traditional building strategies and specific life styles. What is their explicit need when it comes to dealing with water in this very location? Identify and classify the available resources.

2.a. Develop a spatial/urban development concept

Analyze possible needs for improvements in the previously chosen location and formulate your response. Whether it be housing, recreation space, energy or food production or a transport hub or others. Plan a development concept to meet those needs. You should focus particularly on the integration into the existing landscape/cityscape also under views of environmental and nature conservation. Respect the local social and cultural characteristics. You might define the infrastructure (circulation, connection of utilities (fresh water/waste water, gas, electricity, etc.) and concepts for the supply of energy, waste handling, usage of water, transport and other needs of a floating neighborhood.

2.b. Design a floating architecture Design a floating structure with the use of your previously designed ecological material compounds inside the framework of your chosen location. First define a utilization profile (e.g. hospital, school, housing, infrastructure, etc.) and a user profile (elderly people, pupils/students, everybody). Make statements about buoyancy, construction, scale/scalability, sustainability, genius loci and design/appearance.

Note: You might place the focus on 2.a. or 2.b.

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Soft matter - Materiality beyond Solidity - Guest Lecture

Prof. Christiane Sauer, Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee 

Prof. Christiane Sauer is an architect and materials specialist. Her focus is on innovative uses of materials, product development and architectural planning with material gravity. In 2001 she founded FORMADE - Office for architecture and material - in Berlin, since 2009 , in collaboration with Claudia Lüling as LülingSauerArchitekten or FORMADE. Before she founded her one office she was working as a freelance architect for international agencies such as OMA Rotterdam, David Chipperfield Architects or FACE Design NYC active. From 2001 - 2008 she was teaching at the Berlin University of the Arts, as well as giving lectures and workshops at international universities. In 2010/2011 she endowed a professorship in " Sustainability " at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York and in 2012 a Visiting Professor FG Industrial Design at Kunsthochschule Burg Giebichenstein , Halle / Saale. Since April 2013 she is professor of design and implementation in a spatial context, FG textile and surface design at the Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin. She is co-founder of the Internet platform Architonic and regularly publishes in professional journals and books on current developments in the field of new materials , and is collaborating since 2012 with the architectural journal Detailresearch. Since 2006, she is the author of the series " New Materials " and " space and material " in md design magazine and released in 2010 the book "Made Of: New materials for architecture and design„.

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Index card warm-up

In order to get known each other we started the workshop with a little warm-up.

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Workshop [ultra innovative] materials

In this workshop, you will learn the basics about creative material development using different techniques. You will first make your own research, then cataloge and characterize different materials and finally you will make a design for your own ultra innovative composite material using your previous work as an inspiration.

Topic

Today’s modern constructions are highly sophisticated and efficient when it comes to physical strain benchmarking and production costs. In order to meet the demands of many differentiated applications lightweight construction, compounds and sandwiches, trusses and frameworks evolved. Applications range from buildings to automotives and aeronautics. Lightweight construction leads to conservation of resources and energy efficiency and therefore to climate protection. However, except of timber frameworks they still rely on conventional raw materials like various types of metal, fiber‐reinforced plastics, technical polymers or other fossil‐sourced materials. For floating applications, typical materials are metals, concrete and fiber reinforced plastics. Today available materials for floating structures will soon be rare or too expensive to use in large scale.

Rather sooner than later production has to shift from materials made from crude oil and metals to renewable resources. Measures like sustainable sourcing of renewable resources, environmental friendly production methods, recycling and upcycling are required in order to foster a resource efficient circular economy. Thus, the sparing use of resources, an increase of resource efficiency and sustainable sourcing are key concepts in this context.

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Task

1. Internet research Make a research about material properties and concepts using the internet or materials from the Bauhaus University Library.

2. Catalogue and characterize materials Document as many different properties as possible that materials can have. Document as many different materials as possible. Group them in various categories.

3. Develop your own composite material

Develop a composite material or a group of related materials for the use of floating structures like pontoons, ship hulls or buoys. Your composite should consist of alternative component materials. Start by defining the characteristics that your material should have. Key words are: physical strain [water resistance, mechanical strength, corrosion resistance (against salt water, UV light, chemicals, ect.)], design [nature and geometry of core materials, thickness, characteristics and number of component layers, rigidity of composite], sustainability [life cycle, availability of raw materials, environmental foot print, toxidity] processing [tools needed, inline fabrication realizable?, costs of fabrication], appearance [texture, color, haptics, patina, surface profile, appearance under water and above water (dry‐wet)]

Work as seriously as necessary but think as open as possible!