CONTEMPORARY WAYS OF SPACE ENVELOPMENT

The main goal

The contemporary ways of space envelopment create new influences that are visible to the interior-exterior interface and become important for both theory and practice of Architecture. Contemporary Architecture experiences new ways of space envelopment that satisfy the influences of past utopias from more than one point of view: aesthetic, energy-wise and structure wise. All these experiments present in the interior-exterior interface deserve a classification which interests both academics and professionals. The main goal of the study being precisely this type of classification according to different criteria: materials, technology, originality in implementation in respect to shape, function and significance.

Objectives

The main goal of this scientific research is creating a system of experimental architecture trends present in the envelope structure. This complex objective can only be achieved with thorough documentation and interdisciplinary information during two years of study.

Participating in conferences, symposia will help the theorethical one that starts with a debate and concludes in result dissemination.

In order to obtain relevant feedback on the present results and create new objectives for future research there will be organized meetings with researchers that are not involved in the project, meetings of the team members at all organized events and articles on the problematic of the architectural envelope.

As secondary goal the project should create international contacts in order to continue and amplify the project globally by attracting the interest of external academic partners. This will be achieved by participating in conferences and scientific communication events held internally of internationally, or even long term research outside the country for one of the team members each year.

Methodology

The abstract of the study will be based on scientific research on global experimental architecture. Also the second part of the study will demonstrate through design and architecture experiments how this project brings value, utility and present interest to preoccupied architects in this matter.

The first component of this study will be making the questionnaries for architects, concerning space enveloping matters in the contemporary way. The interpretation of this questionnaires could identify new local tendences interesting in the global area of research in space envelopinig.

The effort of proving the importance of the architectural experiment theoretically and practically starts with an idea, expresses practically in a project and finalizes with its physical constitution. It is not between the study goals to create architectural objects. The practical experimentation will grow from project to three-dimensional simulation, small mock-up copies, art and design objects. The abstract part of the study implies constant documentation and information throughout the project.

International academic contacts will represent the second priority on which the project is based entirely, not excluding professional meetings, conferences and international fairs, such as: Biennales focused on Art and Architecture, like the one in Venice. Attracting the interest of Romanian and foreign researchers would definately bring a new approach in the study and establish long term collaboration in order to continue the project from other perspectives in the future.

Expected results

The central element in the study of Architecture is space. Therefore any scientific research should start with the space as main study object and the issues of space envelopment are just as up-to-date as the primordial shelter in contemporary times as well as in the future of an architect.

This project is subject to a powerful impact on more than one level: academic – by organizing meetings for specialists and issuing written materials as results for the study, professional – by exposing important matters for architects, that should interest any practicing architect.

The process of fellow architects involvement will be eased with the collaboration of the Romanian Architects’ Order (Ro. O.A.R.), that will issue twice a year an information letter containing the research results and once a year a meeting can be hold in which partial results are debated regarding continuing education or discussions on the theme with co-interested participants.

Another way of making public the results of this research is participating in scientific communication sessions that are meant to disseminate information on the project in the academic field, along with presentations for the students, conference attendance and article publishing.

The final result of the research, which is also one of the main objectives, is gathering together a vast study to be published in two volumes: one focused on the local constituent and the other on the international constituent, both of them in the second year of research period. Summaries of these studies will be disseminated through the Romanian Architects’ Order to local branches in order to stimulate and inform architects about new ways of dealing with projects.

A way of involving different fields of expertise in the research like Art, for instance, is analyzing the design element present in space envelopment and identifying sculptural envelopment methods. The interdisciplinary character of the study generates new approaches in future scientific research regarding experiments in space envelopment.