The Unity of Opposites
Cover. Vipp Shelter, Sibbhult, Sweden [2015]. Product Designer: Morten Bo Jensen. Brand: Vipp.
Preface
This text is an excerpt from Re-Readings: Interior Architecture and the Design Principles of Remodelling Existing Buildings by Graeme Brooker MA and Sally Stone MA.
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Synopsis
Re-readings is an authoritative testament to the complex process of remodelling existing buildings. Although buildings have always been reused, the process of doing so has rarely been treated as an artform. In recent years, however, a huge amount of press coverage has been devoted to remodelling projects such as the Tate Modern in London, the Baltic Art Factory in Gateshead, the Grand Louvre pyramid and courtyard, and the Reichstag in Berlin, to name but a few.
By attracting prestigious architects to its practice, it would appear that remodelling, once the dowdy cousin of the more glamorous architecture, has gained a new respectability. Re-readings responds to remodelling as an artform, making sense of the considerable structural, aesthetic, environmental, contextual and programmatic challenges of remodelling existing buildings. Illustrated throughout with a rich international portfolio of case studies, it explains the theory behind the way that architects and designers interpret and adapt buildings.
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Insertion
Insertion, as its title suggests, is the introduction of a new element into, between or beside an existing structure. The inserted object can often be seen as independent and confrontational, a single large powerful element that establishes surprising dialogues between itself and the existing structure or volume. It is at its best when the clearest possible distinction between the crisp new contemporary work and the crumbling antiquity of the existing is established and therefore the style, the language, the materials and the character of each are different.
Although the inserted element is independent, particular qualities are derived from the original building. This is inevitable because the insertion always has a direct architectural relationship with the absolute physical properties of the existing space. It is built to fit. Factors such as the scale and the dimensions, the proportions, the rhythm and the structural composition of the existing building influence the design of the insertion. At times perhaps, the insertion can be seen as some sort of interpretation of the past.
It is necessary for the form of the host building to be sufficiently powerful in order to accommodate the addition of a new and autonomous object, that it is not overawed. It is also important that the host building is relatively physically unaltered, that it retains its original integrity. Often it is necessary for the architect to do little more than address any structural or environmental problems, although sometimes the complete restoration of the building to its original majesty may be required but the recognition of the distinction between the original building and the insertion is important. Equally, the insertion must be sufficiently strong to sit easily within or around it and a counterpoint or balance must be realised. For a successful dialogue to be established, the two components must be speaking equally loudly, albeit in different languages.
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'The insertion of a new functioning element not only provides a use for an often redundant or neglected space but also serves to enhance and intensify the building itself. The strong relationship of attracting opposites, each complementing and enhancing the other, generates a building of a new and greater worth.'
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The tension and the ambiguities in the relationship between the two can also strengthen and reinvigorate the existing building: it can be considered and examined in a new way, it is looked at afresh and it is almost as if new life has been drawn into it.
At the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, the structure containing the theatre was inserted as an alien element into the original exchange building. Levitt Bernstein designed the steel and glass ’space ship’ in direct contrast to the formidable classical marble and stone of the existing building. It provides a focus for the space. The open hall of the Exchange building is so huge that the theatre can comfortably sit within it as a sculptural object and can be accessed from all sides. There is no confusion about what and where the theatre is.
Both the original building and the insertion have strong independent characters and yet the theatre depends upon the exchange for such measures as scale, proportion, size and support. The floor of the exchange was not structurally capable of supporting the new structure, so the weight of the theatre was loaded onto long legs, which actually raise the theatre from the ground and transfer the load onto the columns of the original building.
The insertion of this new object reinvigorates the original building. A symbiotic relationship between the two elements is established based upon juxtaposition, counterpoint and contrast, and this relationship heightens the quality of both. The insertion of a new functioning element not only provides a use for an often redundant or neglected space but also serves to enhance and intensify the building itself. The strong relationship of attracting opposites, each complementing and enhancing the other, generates a building of a new and greater worth.