Giotto

In collaboration with Jotte Verrept, I embarked on a captivating project during Masterstudio C, drawing inspiration from Giotto's timeless frescoes. These artworks portrayed architecture in a minimalist light, almost akin to stage sets, serving as a backdrop for significant events. The architectural elements were subtle, primarily serving to enhance human activities rather than dominating the scene. Our task was to reimagine this concept in a contemporary context, where our architectural design would similarly facilitate human interactions and pursuits. We conceptualized a modern interpretation centered around a communal garden, envisioning it as a serene oasis nestled amidst the bustling urban landscape—a sanctuary for quiet reflection and social connection. This "silent and enclosed space" was conceived as a haven for gardening enthusiasts, fostering human interaction and providing respite from the cacophony of city life.

08/11/2023

0. Introduction to our project

As we contemplated gesture and its expression through our work, we gravitated towards a concept rooted in nature and greenery. Given the pressing issue of climate change, we aimed to engage with this theme creatively. Our idea took shape as a green community featuring interconnected greenhouses. Initially conceived as a city garden where individuals could harvest their own greens, our vision aimed to reintroduce private gardens to urban landscapes. The central concept behind the greenhouses was accessibility, allowing everyone to pick their vegetables or herbs akin to a CSA farm (Community Supported Agriculture), while prioritizing sustainability.

Extensive research into greenhouse functionality guided our design process, informing the dimensions and form, which we correlated with elements from Giotto's works. Over time, our concept evolved into a walled garden with greenhouse towers, inspired by Giotto's frescoes depicting walls and the interplay between elements before and behind them.

Drawing from both historical and contemporary influences, we incorporated elements from Giotto's architecture and sought inspiration from modern examples such as the walled oasis in the desert and Gertrude Jekyll's garden on the holy island. These references helped us envision our project within a city context, emphasizing the contrast between the lush garden and the urban environment.

The initial phase of our project began as a simple kitchen garden within the walled space but evolved into a grand garden featuring towering greenhouses. Through numerous sketches and conceptualizations, we arrived at the idea of suspended greenhouses, resembling lanterns, to maximize ground space for a flower garden. This design choice reinforced the relationship between the greenhouse towers and the enclosing wall.

To illustrate the potential of our design, we created two images. The first depicts the garden at night, where the towers transform into illuminated lanterns, reflecting the vibrant greenery and people onto the matte glass surfaces. This image serves as a visual invitation into the world within the towers. The second image offers a daytime view from inside the garden, showcasing its dynamic colors and vitality.

Reflecting on our journey, we found it fascinating to explore architectural concepts starting from a simple gesture and studying historical frescoes.

This Giotto fresco provided the foundation for the visual essence of our project. Notably, the image portrays a congregation of individuals within a space delineated by a towering wall. Beyond this barrier, prominent landmarks loom, distinguishing between interior and exterior realms. The stark juxtaposition between the bustling human activity within and the anonymity of the external world is evident.

1. Inside - Outside

An intriguing initial dichotomy emerges—the contrast between inside and outside. Externally, the composition presents an enclosed space, characterized by towers protruding from a solid wall, hinting at the mysteries concealed within.

Initially, the focus lies on the notion of a landmark—a concept that shapes the external perception of this architectural endeavor. Subsequently, attention shifts inward, delving into the experiential dimensions of the defined space.

A first attempt to create an image of our project by this collage. It shows a constellation of towers within a defined, walled space. Within a mix of colourful greenery rise up high. The towers suggest to enlighten.

This image offers an initial glimpse of our project's exterior. The wall reminiscent of a fortress is structured in a square blueprint, featuring openings at the center of each side. Additionally, the image highlights a material juxtaposition between the robust thickness of the wall and the ethereal quality of the towers within.

In a similar fashion, this image shows a first glimpse of our projects interior.

2. Design of the tower units and their floor plan Composition

Our concept aimed to accentuate the contrast between external perception and internal activity: a dual-layered approach featuring a solid, imposing wall enclosing the space, with delicately constructed towers rising above, visually hinting at the vibrant activity within this green enclave. These translucent towers, resembling greenhouses, would harness sunlight and capture rainwater to nurture vegetable growth. Additionally, our exploration delved into the practical aspects, such as determining optimal vegetable varieties for cultivation, scheduling planting cycles, and implementing crop rotation within this architectural framework.

This model depicts our quest for the ideal arrangement of towers, green spaces on the ground level, and pathways connecting the entrances of the surrounding space with those of the towers.

Underneath is the first model I had made with which we really broke through. I had this idea that we should design one unit completely and furthermore we would have the freedom of composing the units in a way which would work well for the final images. Elaborating further on the idea of hanging platforms, some visual ideas clearly come to the fore as well as the technical consequences. Visually, these lampions suggest the capturing of rainwater on top of each unit which guides it down to the superposed rayons of plants via a simple system of canals.

At this stage, we immerse ourselves in the intricate design of each tower unit. Technically, our design comprises platforms suspended from a central core by smaller steel columns. These columns transfer pull forces to the central core, which in turn exerts a push force, effectively cancelling each other out and distributing the weight to the ground.

A more detailed model below showcases the illuminated tower unit at night, which creates a visually striking effect by projecting the interior scenes of people and plants onto the screens. This amplifies our initial intention for the towers to serve as a landmark for external observers, arousing curiosity among passersby and offering a tantalizing glimpse of the interior.

This is a model of one tower unit we had made scaled 1/20, from there came the idea of having the inside projected on the facade - translucent material, vaguely letting through light.

Sketching a composition of towers.

Here you can clearly see our search for one of the final images, which had these constraints of the mdf-plate, an almost square proportion, onto which we were going to show of course this image of towers popping on top of this wall as they seem to be hovering above almost as if they are not bound to gravity.

3. Final images

We created two final images to highlight two distinct contrasts: interior versus exterior, and day versus night. During the night, the perception of the exterior is accentuated by the illumination of the lampions, creating a mesmerizing spectacle akin to a magical screen. It transforms the architecture into a landmark, inviting observers to gaze upon it, resembling a cinematic experience. Conversely, during the day, natural light fosters the growth of plants, turning the architecture into a sanctuary amidst urban chaos. It provides urban dwellers with the opportunity to unwind or work within this verdant oasis.

Technically, these images were to be executed as paper collages glued onto about a 100 x 100 cm mdf-plate. So the colours were chosen based on the available coloured papers, and we chose to be quite economic with the detailing - opting to choose the essence and spare us some work of extremely detailed paper cutting.

Image one: "day - inside"

Image two: "night - outside"

This is how the first image looked, yet unglued as a paper collage.

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