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In a program co-sponsored by the Architectural League and the Municipal Art Society, Enrique Norten, principal of TEN Arquitectos, spoke at
the Great Hall at Cooper Union on January 31 about his recent work and his firm's winning entry in Brooklyn Public Library's Visual and
Performing Arts Library Competition.
Norten established TEN Arquitectos (Taller Enrique Norten Arquitectos) in Mexico City in 1985, and it currently maintains offices there
and in New York City. Underlying TEN's work is a quest to understand the role of the architect in a world that is increasingly complex,
technologically mediated, and global, but also increasingly beholden to the needs of individuals and communities. "The architecture of
our generation," he said, "sits on the intersection where global and unique, universal and specific collide." Another key goal for TEN
has been to develop an architectural vocabulary that addresses "tectonics," which for Norten includes not only the materials and techniques
used in building, but the "life forces-social, political, and economic-that act on the conditions of architecture." For Norten, the built
aspect of architecture is of paramount importance. "I became an architect," he explained, "because I like to build. I believe in an architecture
that will be built and that will be activated by the inhabitation of people."
The 1998 Hotel Habita project called for converting a dilapidated five-story residential building into a thirty-six room boutique hotel in a
run-down area of Mexico City. The dominant stroke of TEN's design is the translucent glass facade that envelopes the existing building. In
addition to acting as an acoustical buffer and sustainability aid, the facade enabled TEN to "reinvent the views" from inside the building-by
leaving certain portions of the translucent glass fully transparent, to frame particular vistas of the neighboring cityscapes. Another
achievement of the project was the "rediscovery of the roof." The rooftops of Mexico City, Norten explained, are usually occupied by little
more than building machinery and clotheslines. The rooftop of the Habita, by contrast, hosts many of the hotel's public and recreational
facilities and as such constitutes the "reinvention of an uncommon condition of the city." The Hotel's success has contributed to a commercial
and residential renaissance of the neighborhood.
At a current hotel project in Budapest, TEN is seeking to create a building that will "blend with the past but play a protagonistic role as a
contemporary building." The form and colors of the building, dominated by the rich translucent orange of movable window panels, were drawn from
neighboring buildings and streetscapes. In explicit contrast to the standardized room layout of chain hotels, TEN designed the units so that the
each guest can "invent his room" by arranging the furniture and the position of the colored window panels. The different window positions not
only alter lighting within the rooms, but also make possible infinite variations for the building's exterior appearance.
In their gymnasium project for the Educare school in Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico, where the seasonal climate variations can be extreme, TEN was
challenged to "create a building that would be sustainable, but also bring a condition of life and happiness to its users." The clerestory
level of the building is constructed of glass, allowing for ample natural lighting. Below this, the building's skin is articulated by five
levels of metal panels, modeled on fish scales, that open and close to regulate ventilation. The panels are controlled by a central computer
system that monitors wind pressure, heat, and humidity. The different degrees of panel aperture in different parts of the building afford
infinite modulation of the building's surface. "Buildings," said Norten, "attain their own form as they respond to conditions."
"The house," said Norten, moving to several residential projects, "is the basic cell of our cities and our lives." Norten explained that one
of his firm's major preoccupations is to "understand the traditions of inhabitation in our culture, and how dwelling spaces are used." One of
the key areas for this exploration has been the relationship between exterior and interior, and the attempt to achieve a fluid integration
between the two. TEN has extensively investigated these kinds of "interstitial spaces" such as verandas, patios, and interior courtyards
and gardens, which have a particular resonance in traditional Mexican and Latin American architecture. In this respect, the screen and
the glass facade, with their capacity to regulate not only the quantity and quality of light but the degree of privacy and intimacy of
space, have played a central role in Norten's architecture and design thinking.
In his submission for the group of World Trade Center site proposals curated last fall by New York Times architecture critic Herbert
Muschamp, Norten proposed a residential project consisting of two empty frame-like structures into which individual buyers would 'insert'
apartments designed to their own aesthetic tastes and sized according their means. Showing an image of what the project might look like
when filled in with an array of differently colored, shaped, and massed apartments-he showed a slide of the game Tetris alongside-Norten
explained that this project would allow for a new kind of "individuality of dwelling," as well as a fancifully colorful facade.
TEN's project for the JVC Convention Center on the outskirts of Guadalajara, Mexico consists of a 280 x 180 meter free-span, ovoid,
translucent glass dome, enveloping a multi-level conference and meeting facility which is programmed in concentric circles. The glass
bubble's form was developed by exploring, with ARUP engineers, the ranges of structural efficiency at such a scale. Inside the center,
the different programmatic areas and activities are illuminated with colored lights to facilitate way-finding: a visitor finds a specific
area or program by following markers of the color assigned to it. From the outside, the differently colored sections of the interior of the
convention center glow hazily within the translucent bubble at night, while during the day, the vast bubble maintains a foggy floating
appearance. With the somewhat organic form of the dome, Norten said, TEN made a particular effort to harmonize architecture with the
surrounding landscape, which abuts on a national park.
The themes that arose in all of these projects-colored coded program, creative siting, the experimentation with glass facades and interstitial
spaces to interlace building and surroundings-deeply informed TEN's submission for the Visual and Performing Arts Library Competition.
Norten began his discussion of the library project by outlining the history and features of the site, a wedge- shaped lot near downtown Brooklyn,
delimited to the west by Atlantic Avenue, to the north by Lafayette Avenue, and to the east by Ashland Place. Across Ashland Place, it faces the
Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Art Deco tower of the Williamsburg Savings Bank, which dominates the area's skyline. The neighborhood already
has a number of arts and cultural institutions, many of them affiliated with the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
The competition for the library is part of an energetic initiative to revitalize the neighborhood by taking advantage of its plentiful cultural
resources, to make it a focal point of New York artistic and cultural life. Part of this initiative is the Brooklyn Academy of Music cultural
district, master planning for which has been carried out by Rem Koolhaas and Diller and Scofidio.
The competition for the Visual & Performing Arts Library, which was funded through a $50,000 grant form the National Endowment for the Arts,
featured submissions from TEN Arquitectos, Ateliers Jean Nouvel, Huff + Gooden, and Rafael Vinoly Architects. The competition brief, Norten
recalled, was challenging. It demanded an ambitious 150,000 square foot program to include reading rooms, stack space, multimedia archive
spaces hosting both traditional and contemporary technologies, exhibition space, performance spaces, a cafe, copy center, administrative,
development and circulation spaces, 24/7 indoor space, and an outdoor public space. Moreover, a plot on the northern edge of the site has
been reserved for the future construction of a theater. Lastly, the brief demanded explicitly that the new library be highly integrated with
the surrounding neighborhood.
From the outset, TEN's overriding goal was "to create a new vocabulary of the library, something much more inviting and part of the community
than the traditional heavy stone building." Norten explained that TEN wanted to "discover new possibilities for space and light" while
competently and coherently answering the ambitious program requirements." Formally, Norten explained, his team undertook to create a "a
permeable building, a transparent building." "This can be taken literally or conceptually," he said, "and the two interpretations come
very close together."
A major challenge in the project was how to tie together a complex program and create a coherent and unified "spatial experience and
understanding," while sufficiently maintaining the independence of each programmatic component. Norten discussed several of TEN's responses
to this challenge. One was the creation of a floor-to-roof central volume in the interior of the building. This central atrium, Norten
explained, serves to "anchor one's sense of place" and acts additionally as a light well for the main circulatory spaces. In plan, the
architects deeply indented the base of the "triangle", to open up a v-shaped public plaza that serves as a focal point for neighborhood
civic life, and leaves ample space for the theater to be built on the site's northern edge.
Zoning regulations limited the height of the project to eight stories above grade, so the project features two underground floors. To gain
square footage in spite of the cramped footprint, the project increases in area as it rises, giving the building an appearance somewhat like
an anvil or an inverted iron. At the northwest corner of the project, floors five and higher form an overhang that shelters the public space
at street level. The underground floors contain parking, mechanical facilities, and an auditorium. The ground floor features lobby, cafe,
book and gift shop, and 24/7 public space. The middle floors host the library's arts and music archives, multimedia facilities, library
services, performance spaces, and library circulation functions, while the upper floors take in office space for library development and
administration. The different programmatic areas and floors are distinguished by the bright colors of their walls-the ground floor is blue,
the middle floors radiate teals and greens, and the upper floors reds and oranges. These colors are visible through the glass facade that
envelopes the entire project. The facade, a key component of the project's "permeability," is formed of two or three layers of sandwiched
glass, depending on the program it shelters and its orientation. For Norten, the glass facade both welcomes the neighborhood into the project,
and can serve as "a billboard" to project the library's activities outward.
In conclusion, Norten expressed his optimism that the new library would contribute to the richness of what "is going to be one of the most
important areas of the city."
go to exhibitions.
go to lecture summaries.
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