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Estonian Academy of Arts
Estonian Academy of Arts
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Other Projects by Gage / Clemenceau Architects
Estonian Academy of Arts
In the past decade architectural design has become increasingly reliant on the limited form-making tools offered in standardized architectural software packages. Recent projects from Gage / Clemenceau Architects, such as this competition entry for the EstonianAcademy of the Arts, have actively researched the digital tools used in distant design disciplines in an attempt to move beyond normally unchallenged design boundaries within the architectural profession. The facades, apertures, and large courtyard manifold openings of this project were designed using the software package Alias Studio, which is typically used for automotive design. By creating an experimental alliance with the software manufacturer, Autodesk, we misused the software with the express purpose of cross-pollinating automotive and architectural design tactics. Instead of relying on platonic geometries which typically guide architectural design decisions, the facade of the Estonian Academy of the Arts is entirely, and tautly, wrapped in what the automotive industry refers to as “Class-A” surfaces—surfaces which produce the maximum aesthetic effect with a minimum of mathematical description. The building contains both purely aesthetic fluid ripples and contours, as well as performative scoops, tunnels and vents that funnel fresh air to all areas of the building—from the lobby to the interior courtyard, to the 5th floor central manifold featured in the center of the overall composition. A large-scale prototype panel was constructed of the centralized section of the building in order to view these surface-based geometries at a larger, architectural scale. To be more specific, automotive design is largely based on the placement of “break lines,”— the folds in panels which reach along the side of a car from the front to the back. The portion of the panel above the break line reflects the sky; the portion below it reflects the road. Careful curation of the break lines, therefore, allows car designers to capitalize on the relation between the viewer, the object, the ground and the sky— which is a problem normally specific to architecture, and generally solved through massing.This problem was addressed more specifically in the prototype panel, which was produced to research how a logic of break lines and reflection might produce a new genre of relationship between the building and its viewer. Instead of break lines running horizontal, as in a car, the break lines run vertically, allowing facade panels to fold and reflect various views of the sky and city around the site depending on one’s relative location to the building.
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