The story starts with a girl named Sofie. A very ordinary girl in her context, bound to her growing place and yet an outsider to it. Content with where she is, she never seemed to declare her wanting of a refuge, not even to herself.

Like every other storyline, growth is provoked by hardships: A war, the encounter of a young wizard, and a passing aging curse. This is what drives little Sofie out of her coop into the world, finally seeking to belong. Her quest leads her to Howl’s castle, a moving entity of irregular volumetry.

The Anatomy of Howl’s Castle

At first sight, Howl’s Castle can seem a malformed beast, with its anatomical structure: legs, eyes, mouths… that allows it to move around. Upon a closer inspection, you see that it’s a merger of houses, metamorphosed into one aesthetically eccentric structure.

Before Sofie’s intervention, the interiors are no different: rogue and eclectic, as if the mixing of houses, styles, and the hoarding of valuables (as in Howl’s bedroom) is a frail attempt to bring a homely sense to the castle.

However, the agile and enchanting nature of the castle makes it a great place to settle. Grounding and yet spatially detached, it allowed for a constant change of scenery and animation.

Calcifier: the incarnation of genius loci

Calcifier, the enflamed demon, is responsible for keeping the castle together, moving it around, and changing its inner layout. Being directly connected to Howl – by heart - it maintains the warmth his master comes back to, and everyone gathers around, thus sustaining its flame. It’s a home-made sustainable ecosystem where fire doesn’t burn. Instead, it builds and personifies the space: it's the genius loci.

The domestication of the castle

The interior of the castle undergoes several major layout changes. First, as Sofie settles in, she navigates the chaos and adds a grounding sense to the mobile home through cleaning, cooking,  and rearrangement. After she bonds with the rest of the residents, Howl uses its inflamed heart to change it into her image: homely and convivial.

Greenery for revival: Lastly, after the great rebuild of the castle, a backyard is set up —a piece of earth to bind the eccentric architecture to—verdure here and there, signaling the formation of a new structure, both tangible and emotive.

The advantages of the Howl design

In and within space: The Howl design simultaneously allows both space attachment and detachment. You are still bound to your personalised grounding architecture, but one that’s portable and integratable in different contexts and environments.

Agile architecture: the castle morphs its layout and reorganises to adjust to the shifting needs of its residents and the places it settles in, offering a sustainable user experience.

Maximalism on display: The anarchic exterior mirrors the eclectic interiors of the castle. With Howl’s Room walls covered in jewels, he sure encourages spatial character and the abundance of self-expression within.

A space for all and space for one: even when living in a castle, personal space is a prerequisite in home design. There, behind one unmarked door, Howl leads Sophie to his once “safe space”— a cottage hideaway for her to be alone.

Beyond the visuals, this beautiful depiction explores a philosophical question that, for a long time, architects and anthropologists tried to answer. A dilemma  similar to the “chicken or the egg.” What comes first? The home or the family? What inspires or catalyzes the forming of the other? To that, the Howl model suggests that a family is what makes a home out of a house. And a house is a vessel in which the family forms and bonds, consequently, turning it into a home.

Throughout history, architecture mirrored civilization, and architects were people of great interest. From Vitruvius to Davinci and Mimar Sinan, their contributions reflect intellectual brilliance, establishing them as prominent architects. With this status comes a greater responsibility: a moral load on both the creator and its creation, often overlooked by history.

Due to the seemingly material nature of architectural production, it's used to judge its matter and its designer through a pragmatic equation of: “You are what you create.” Hence, a good building is a reflection of a good architect. However, this one-criterion system opposes the previously mentioned importance of these two elements in and for history.

Morals and architecture

Morality is rarely discussed in architecture, especially with a focus on the architect as creator and outside the legislative realm, leaving considerable room for relativity. The conduct of this discussion implicates the questioning of both the product and the producer in the hope of establishing common rules of moral correctness.

Neutrality of architecture

Despite it being a concrete expression, architecture takes a marginal role as a referential moral ground. It is there, existing despite the narrative or the motives behind it, which allows its nuanced use as an economic asset, a development tool, a weapon, and a settlement force.

A good architect and a moral architect

The basic role of an architect is to plan space to accommodate a function. A good architect is a competent architect. He effectively uses a set of parameters to imagine, draw, and build a space that's durable, functional, and aesthetically pleasing.  A moral architect operates on a deeper and intentional plane. It is someone with strong beliefs in right or wrong; he makes sure to reflect in his work.

Images of immoral architecture

The authority of an architect over people’s environment tests him to make moral decisions throughout his career. He either chooses to please them and attend to their needs or be superior to them.

Land acquisition

Space theft stems from colonial roots. Many famous and influential architects participated in the settlement agenda to build in occupied territories, making them fields for their theoretical experimentation. They not only supported the reappropriation of the land but also local styles and finishes, naming them post-indigenous.

Selfish expression

Unless it’s the intended goal or function, designing a space that’s uncomfortable, disorienting, or “outside the norms” for the sole purpose of aesthetic singularity is a selfish act. In residential buildings, a space that, by one’s standards, is unlivable or doesn’t adequately meet the needs of its users speaks of entitlement and apathy.

By highlighting the role of architecture as a direct translation of human advancement, it is crucial to recognize the architect as a translator. Undoubtedly, He is an artist. He implicates himself in his work both intentionally and subconsciously. And while a moral judgment might seem brutal on his evident and even necessary subjectivity, his motives must align with his noble mission as a space shaper.

Finally, Architecture is a moral responsibility and a commitment towards humanity. A moral architecture is human architecture, and a moral architect is simply a good person.

Following WWII, CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne) decided on a universal, rational approach to architectural design where "One-size-fits-all" and “less is more.” This standard thinking model aimed to create architectural uniformity and efficiency.

Such a system, governed by uniform properties, makes an almost perfect vivarium for observing human behaviour in a pre-set layout. Would an unchangeable space change the people within?

In a suburban setting, Gemma and Tom explore the limitations of the unlimited “Yonder” housing estate – A seemingly innocent landscape that starts and ends at house number nine. They’re the involuntary participants of a compulsory nesting experience: two rats in a maze.

To nest

The movie begins with a depiction of brood parasitism, where the cuckoo bird ejects eggs from the nest and replaces them with its own, assuring its survival through delegation in a house it did not create. This image of nature shows both the innate biological need for a home and the survival instinct to colonize for it.

The layout

A smothering monotony characterizes the Yonder housing estate. A set of identical suburban housing units aligned on a symmetric grid. Pastel blue façades and mint green grass. This lack of unique characteristics creates a sense of disorientation and timelessness.

The absence of reference distorts the cognitive compass of the protagonists, making it harder for them to locate and navigate. All roads lead them back to house nine, and time vanishes in the sameness of space, becoming irrelevant.

Their futile quest highlights how the human mind struggles to quantify physical and temporal dimensions once the spatial markers are lost. Yonder becomes a maze in their head, even if not inherently designed to be one.

Home psychology

“Not a starter home, a forever home.” That’s the pitch Martin, the real estate agent, uses to describe the house with its already meticulously arranged scenery: the blue nursery,  set dinner table, and laid-out pyjamas. Despite the attempt to domesticate it, it remains soulless, with no distinctive smell or sense of familiarity.

With Gemma spending her time inside caring for the parasitic entity, Tom spent most of his time outside digging their way out, mirroring a traditional suburban family dynamic rooted in gender roles.  At her demise, the now-adult parasite tells Gemma: “You’re already home” and “Mothers die”, implying that it’s a mother’s mission to make a home out of a house. Her forced attachment to the place makes it her responsibility, as if her fostering instinct marked its sacred territory.

The movie explores the principle of “You are the product of your environment.” The entity requires an efficient system that produces a systematic model of the real estate agent—a home simulator,  designed for a very peculiar output, and the unwilling participants are biological tools meant to balance the ecosystem of the vivarium.

Staring at the city that never sleeps, right into its “Oculus”, you see a bone-like structure —a futuristic entity said to connect place and time. It's the World Trade Center transportation hub, imagined by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.

The singularity of this project stems not only from its strong abstract features but also from its technical ingenuity, achieved over 12 years (2004-2016).

About the project

In Lower Manhattan, New York, United States, right between the World Trade Center tower and the 9/11 Museum, the station is part of the WTC campus, previously designed by Daniel Libeskind. It was set to commemorate and replace the PATH station destroyed during the 9/11 events.

Existing within an already compact and dense urban fabric, the project still effortlessly imposes itself as a referential landmark due to its remarkable structure and utility.

Accessibility and connectivity

The hub is accessible at pedestrian level, allowing the smooth flow of the public to the four towers, Brollkfield Place, and more. On a vertical level, a set of corridors, mezzanines, escalators, and elevators connects the Oculus to the city trains and subway system. This wholesome variation in circulation means and pathways marks it as a nerve center responsible for the efficient processing of the constant human flux.

The multistory transit hall featuring a set of lobbies, waiting areas, and retail services is an attraction point not only for station users but also for all New Yorkers, travelers, and tourists.

Structure

The hub structure consists of rib-like modular steel elements and glass, arrayed in an elliptical shape, forming a large sculpted atrium—an oculus staring right back into the New York sky.

The arrangement of the steel and glass skeleton allows for a generous “free” inner space, enveloping the lobby and pedestrian corridors. It also permits a generous infiltration of natural light into the three levels of the structure.

Philosophy

While there were different interpretations of the sculptural monument, Calatrava says that it’s simply the figuration of a bird released from a young boy’s hands. By projection, the central atrium is the core of the bird, and the salient metallic ribs are its wings.

Reflecting on its name, “the Oculus” meaning the “eye”, the structure brings to the mind the image of a narrowed eye gazing at the sky of the Big Apple. The atrium is its iris, and the sharp beams are its lashes.

Ornementation

With its all- white coating and sharp edges, the Oculus is a structural expression that denounces traditional ornamentation and is instead branded by its technical ingenuity: brutal, imposing, and futuristic.

The Interior follows the same minimalist impression with its blank finishes. It is instead animated by the constant pedestrian movement and the penetrating light that breaks and softens its angles.

This project is a great example of a successful artistic and technical abstraction. It shows great control and understanding of the Vitruvian principles, where aesthetics, utility, and solidity are equally represented.

The third place, as defined in sociology, is the social space outside work and home where people meet and interact. On a micro level, the 3rd spacing is the travel of fluids into the “non-functional” intracellular area. These definitions suggest that the 3rd place is all around us, connecting different areas and functions into a wholesome urban experience.

The charter of Athens, published after CIAM’s 4th congress, labels it as “ the recreation” space. One of the 4 major functionalist city activities. It includes parks, cafés, clubs… Places where the community exercises its social instinct.

Digitalisation of the 3rd place

With the development of digital communication came the rise of individualism, and the 3rd place shrank to portable size. It became always accessible and unlimited by the physical three-dimensional plane. This digitalisation not only nuanced its physical borders but also its grounding nature, making it agile and unpredictable, everywhere and yet nowhere.

The COVID experience and skin hunger

The pandemic awakened the innate need for physical touch and unrestricted spatial navigation. And while people turned to the virtual space for validation, it was deemed insufficient to satisfy the skin hunger and the sensation of being stuck and isolated.

These restraints allude to the birth of a post-COVID social space. One that satisfies the need for proximal social interaction and aligns the digital plane for an optimized user experience.

The new space

The new place is four-dimensional. A hybrid that comes both in regular and pocket-sized formats, hence its fourth dimension. It's dynamic and agile enough to cater to the changing needs of the digital era users. Stimulating and engaging enough for them to put down their phones and immerse in the tangible collective experience. Yet, always accessible through their digital windows for a constant grounding sense of community.

Directed by Christopher Nolan, the movie Inception explores the concept of subconscious mind infiltration and the interplay between the inner and outer worlds. The movie marks three spatio-temporal realms, with each having its layering: the subconscious dream, the limbo, and the real world.

With the real world being the last stop, the outcome, and the most rigid space to act in. Cob and his team create a multilayered dream in which they seek to plant an idea that would automate the desired change they want in the physical world.

In their quest, they enlist the help of an architecture student, Ariadne. Driven by the temptation of having a limitless 3-dimensional canvas on which she can “cheat architecture into impossible shapes,” she would be responsible for designing the different scenery of each dream layer.

As part of her introduction, Cob explains the brain's aptitude to instantly and unconsciously build entire setups to host dreams. The designer's goal would be to enable the conscious mind to take over the creation process, similar to lucid dreaming.

The limbo

The limbo, an expanse of infinite raw subconsciousness and elongated timeline. A space over which they have no control and thus risk being stuck in. So Mal and Rob build within, using memories, a world that they relate to.

This depiction of the limbo illustrates the human innate need to self-ground in space, as the absence of reference and familiarity withholds navigation and creates a state of stagnation.

Maladaptive daydreaming or alternate reality

The movie highlights an interesting human vice of creating a parallel mindsourced reality as a defense mechanism against the dissatisfaction with the physical environment. This immersion can be addictive to the point of dissociation from the living world, as in maladaptive daydreaming.

Terminus: reentering the physical realm

The inception principle accentuates that ideation is the origin of all. It’s where “all” starts, every conception and design. Sometimes it’s conscious, and sometimes it’s intuitive and subconscious. But it always has a tangible outcome.

Examining the mental design of alternate universes as a symptom of physical dysfunction could be the starting point of creating a reality that one would want to stick to.

A human is created with an innate need to navigate space and to settle within. It’s a relatively constant vessel in time. He modulates it into a house, city, territory and a home. He then develops a sense of attachment and reappropriation to it. It is his to exploit and to protect.

The architecture of occupation

The architecture of occupation is both a means and a result. It is a state of weaponization of architecture for unlawful land acquisition, segregation, isolation and apartheid practices. It could also manifest as an act of resistance, terrain reappropriation and a pressure asset.

This architectural regime translates to several tangible /intangible - planned/ anarchic structures taking place on a 3 dimensional realm and with various uncoordinated actors involved.

Instrument of occupation architecture

As Eyal Weizman illustrates in his book “Hollow Land - Israel's Architecture of Occupation”, Architecture in its hostile state as architecture of occupation uses many strategies beyond physical barriers to take over and redefine space. It all starts with destabilization and the creation of a complex reality within (geographical, terminological and logistic).

When blurring and stretching the borders, laws and morals follow. Thus, streets names change, history behind vernacular practices and buildings change, and new imposed settlements are neo-native architecture. As if simply, a natural outcome of urban and architectural evolution.

Decomposing and recomposing space

In its quest to take over space, the occupying power decomposes it and then recomposes it. It connects the fragments it scattered to create new nodes on which it claims territorial sovereignty. This assures the thinning of the existing urban tissue, visual controle, and restriction of movements within.

One of the examples of this technique are the Haussmannian piercings (boulevards) implemented in north african cities like the Casbah of algiers -Algeria.

Space layering

The same approach is implemented on the vertical plan. The layering of space into air space, surfacic land and underground space offers 3 conflict realms. Each has its assets but all are indivisible, which makes confrontation inevitable and partial ownership merely formal.

An example of that is the Israeli occupation’s acquisition of Jerusalem, and the proposal of a layered sovereignty of the holy sites. Of course, Israel would not just have the upper layer but the upper hand in the agreement by controlling the air space and owning the underground resources.

Camouflage and cryptic coloration

To fabricate its legitimacy, the occupation tries to integrate within the environment in a process of space domestication. This manifests not only as change in the built environment (building and demolishing) but also a change of its narrative (Changing streets names, reappropriation and repurposing of existing buildings).

When you claim the land, you claim the architecture. This calls for a connection to the indigenous modules and vernacular ways. When it comes to future projection, it is important for the occupier to familiarize its architecture using a unified character or style that is relevant to the space It occupied, Like the example of mandatory use of stone cladding in occupied jerusalem, or the implementation of the néo-mauresque in  north africa..

To build and to wreck are both acts of architecture,which proves that this later is far from neutral. Beyond it being a modulation of space, a translation of a dreamer’s utopia,  It can also be a projection of one's most horrific and  gruesome inner thoughts, a playground for the immoral to build in ruins their fragile kingdom. The understanding of these procedures exposes its ability to be malign and brings up the inevitable questions of its morality and ethical responsibility.

Looking at the horizontal map of the Danish capital of Copenhagen, a color coded space catches the eye. Specifically in the north and at the center of Nørrebro, an unmissable linear weaving connects and accentuates the area.

The Superkilen park is an immersive public space conceptualized and designed by the Bjarke Ingels group, topotek1 and superflex . Since its inauguration in 2012, it has reshaped the face of one of the most culturally diverse neighborhoods in Copenhagen.

The Superkilen

The park is a work case of collaboration between  architecture, landscape design and art. It extends over an area of 30,000 square meters and  consists of three colorfully distinguished zones (green , red and black.)

Being at the center of an already existing urban palette, the project  works in harmony with the site's curves to connect the adjacent spaces and create a beautiful eclectic dynamic.

It withholds artifacts and elements from different parts of the world, recollections that connect the residents to their roots. This cultural creolisation made the Superkilen An open air, urban, universal exhibition.

Red zone

With its edges reaching inward and outwards, each end connects to a street or a building. The red zone serves as an extensive connective tissue that brings all together, people and spaces.

It’s a dynamic cultural meeting point with bits from all over the world. It promotes physical activity by containing a fitness area, Thai boxing court and a stimulating playground.

Black zone

Mimicking a maghreb Qaada (sitting), the black zone marks an urban sitting room centered by a Moroccan fountain and bordered by tree sets. Chairs and benches of different designs are scattered within the linear patterns and emphasized by it. This creates an optic mesh of both small meetup spots and community gathering lounges.

Green zone

As its name suggests, the green square is a range of soft elevations of greenery. A breathing lung to the congested center of Nørrebro. It features picnic areas, open-air sports zones (hockey and basketball field). It’s a space for people to come together and enjoy the perks of a green setting within an urban dynamic tissue.

To connect, distinguish and stand out

The multidisciplinary collaboration in this project contributes to its success. It works smoothly around the terrain’s obstacles and highlights its  advantages.

The project follows a spatial-social approach that consists of "connecting the space to connect the community". By making them an active contributor in the design process and the implementation of elements that they relate to. As users, they are able to develop a sense of space attachment and appropriation.

In a dense urban fabric, the park uses the simple design elements of  patterns, color-coding and elevations to determine different areas, different activities and to highlight the exhibited furniture.

By its dynamic itinerary and intelligent use of social-spatial features, the project stands out within the city layout, not only due to its space ingenuity but also as it marks a celebration of diversity and a showcase of its latent energy.

The criticism of modernism and the emergence of green movements suggests that the world is shifting toward more eco-friendly and personalized forms of architecture.

The neo-vernacular movement designates the application of ancient knowledge and local assets to create an Architecture that accommodates contemporary needs.

As its name indicates, it’s a new movement that inspires and modernizes vernacular practices to create an architecture that’s good-natured and relevant.

Reevaluation and renounce of Modernism

The main agreed flaw of modernism is that it’s soulless, bland, and stereotypical: a model to fit all. Nevertheless, this didn’t stop it from spreading everywhere and for so long, becoming the reference of urban development, especially in the eastern part of the sphere.

The modernist experience in the East is far from modest. It has invaded many big and capital cities' urban landscapes and become the main façade (Dubai, Doha, Singapore, Shangai)

While the mid-town-skyscrapers trend showcases great technical ingenuity and technological development, it completely overlooks the local identity human scale and depletes resources.

The neo-vernacular, is it a question of aesthetics?

The neo-vernacular is based on knowledge acquired through tests and experimentation. It is rooted in the local and personal experience of a society.

This social and cultural link brings an anticipated image of what’s aesthetically relevant to a certain community, but the functional and ecological impact of vernacular architecture is beyond that.

A neo-vernacular architecture is adapted to the climate, the site on which it sits, and the needs of its occupants. This adaptation means the personalization of the layout and floor plans, structures, the use of local resources (techniques, materials), and local images.

The neo-vernacular and the green movement

This Avant-gardist movement was born in the East with pioneers like Hassan Fathy long before the green wokeism. It stems from the great attachment to the land of eastern populations and seeking harmonious integration in the local environment.

Ecology and sustainability movements are responses set to mitigate the ramifications of global warming by adjusting our way of designing and building to be less impactful on the environment and lessen our carbon footprint.

While these approaches are influential, they promote another form of monotony and a unified model of architecture that follows a standard guideline and the Western experience as a reference.

The future is neo-vernacular

Neo-vernacular is a holistic approach that tics all the boxes of the modern architecture requirements. It is environmentally, technologically, and culturally relevant.

It is based on experimented knowledge which limits the error margin and puts local resources and practices into use.

Neo-vernacular is both people architecture and earth architecture. It centers its intentions on making the best use of its immediate environment and providing the best experience to its users.

In the East, this approach means the revival of authentic local architecture and the creation of a unique architectural identity that promotes a sense of appropriation and attachment.

On the tangible plane, this means a sound use of materials, reduction in the cost of building realization, the utilization of local maneuver and resources, the mitigation of Carbon emissions, and overall, a more homogeneous way of building and living.

On a man-made island at the waterfront of Doha sits the Islamic art museum. Designed by the renowned I. M. Pei in the 2000s, the building is a prominent monument that overlooks the gulf bay and structures the Qatari coast.

From the fabricated site choice to the architecture and design, the building is a romantic canvas, radiating nostalgia for the past and present at once.

Mass plan and accessibility

The museum occupies a poetic position on the skyline of Doha. It is connected to the mainland by a passageway that incarnates the crossing from the past to the present and draws an axe into the museum.

The second structuring axe is outlined by a diagonal palm alley representing the pilgrimage from the desert to the sea of prosperity.

Detached and still attached to the main ground, the project rises from the water in all its splendor as if an extension of Atlantis City.

The mass plan includes three main units: the museum building, the educational wing, and a courtyard. The layout is inviting and offers generous circulation pathways: pedestrian, mechanic, and by boat.

The outline of the project showcases the principles of Islamic architecture and planning. The gradual approach of the project through passageways offers a chicane entry.

The courtyard connecting the two Ailes and the central fountain recreate the archetypal mosque plan.

Form

The body of the museum has an austere allure. It brings to mind the image of the Sabil fountain at the Ibn Tulun mosque in Cairo.

The volume reflects modesty and geometric complexity at once. It is composed of the superposition and rotation of a cubic put on display under the sunlight and blue waves of the Arabian Gulf.

At the top hides an introverted steel atrium through which light penetrates and reflects within a faceted dome: an eye to the horizon and into the museum.

The project is a painting where the environment is a vessel used to exhibit the museum. The color palette is eye-dropped from nature: the blue of the water, gold of the sun, and whiteness of the limestone.

Light is harnessed to become a dynamic ornament that embellishes the poetic scene.

The use of elements of Islamic and Eastern architecture conveys a strong message of cultural prosperity and its geometric geniality: the simplicity of the cube. The dominance of the dome. And the romance of the arc.

With that, the museum is Arabic, Islamic, modest, elegant, and modern.

Interiors and plans

The interior space has several access points structured along the two principal axes. The inside is organized along the central atrium that comprises the main stairs.

The interior spaces include exposition galleries, prayer rooms, restaurants, and an auditorium.

Eastern architecture and, specifically Islamic architecture is known to be introverted. The contrast between the outside and the inside is meant to preserve the sanctity of the inner space.

Into the museum, ornamentation and technological advancement are vivid. A grandiose helicoidal staircase grounds the center space and is mirrored with floating chandeliers.

Looking up into the skylight, the dome is designed according to a geometric matrix of great fines.

The curtain wall on the façade preserves the visual connection and attachment to the site and offers a great view into the gulf and Doha.

This project is a definition of elegant modesty and the deployment of geometric aesthetics. Also, it draws a pattern of what neo-vernacular Islamic architecture could be: an image of the past and future at once.

It uses the best of Islamic architectural principles and simplifies its geometric abstractions to be more light and relatable.

The museum draws a beautiful narrative of ‌Qatari development over the years. Its symbolism draws strength from its immediate environment and strategic site choice.

Imagine, wearing your VR set: walk through the streets of the virtual city to the virtual supermarket. Buy your virtual groceries, and pay with real money. Afterward, your doorbell rings and your groceries are at your doorstep.

The world is shifting. Everyone can sense it, but a few of us know what to expect. Evidently, we are diving more into the digital world, and soon enough, the lines between the real and the virtual will become blurry. This statement is not fictional nor meant to scare you. It could be an excellent opportunity to design the world we desire on an empty slate and use the virtual model to improve our tangible canvas.

With big corporates like Meta and Apple promoting the virtual experience, and the popularity of VR games, people seem to be more immersed than ever in the digital landscape.

The virtual space: What does it look like?

A world you can access from your setup: buildings, public spaces, and fellow human companions. A place where you socialize, entertain, invest, and wander. It’s a tridimensional digital world, fed by virtual reality setups that provide a hyper-realistic virtual experience. Metaverse, Sansar, and many more promote these man-made universes.

Speaking of the architecture of these universes, or aesthetical aspect: It can look and be however we conceive it to be. But we should know that how we design it could eventually impact us. Considering that VR it’s an in-brain-to-machine experience and that this virtual space would make part of our lives, we must understand the effect that it could have on us and our space perception.

Space cognizance is a mental procedure where the brain makes sense of its surroundings ‌ to navigate using its own cerebral compass and mental map. The VR experience could stimulate the same reaction and thus introduce the user to a new set of proportions and spatial parameters.

Prospects

The Covid-19 pandemic is a great conversation starter for the advantageous use of the virtual space. The imposed restrictions generated a state of skin hunger and the human yearning for social interactions.

Creating a virtual world where people can hang out and connect, the simulation of human touch by artificial physical stimulators. This would have made a great difference in the whole pandemic experience. It help people cope with physical restrictions and provides social closeness and solidarity. “An alternative universe for when the original is in crisis.”

This technology also brings hope to people with disabilities. It creates a world that’s adaptive to their spatial needs and allows them to experience beyond their physical limitations.

Architecture between the tangible and the digital

The prospects of these technologies could be immense for architecture and spatial configuration. The one-scale virtual model could be used to improve ‌ concrete buildings. It makes it possible to study human behavior within a space and its interaction with it before it is built.

Also, designing normative spaces within the virtual world provides a more realistic experience that doesn’t contradict the spatial acquisitions of the brain. Instead, it reinforces them and makes it easier to navigate them.

Concerns

To live in a digital space is bound to raise some concerns. These latter are related to the extent we are willing to immerse ourselves within it. This requires the study of the ethical aspect of the digitalization process of human social life.

One of the expected downfalls is the high dependence on these alternative universes, and the disassociation from the real world. Like in the movie “Inception,” having a world tailored to your fantasies could be addictive. This dictates the importance of regulations  and ethical coding of such spaces for the way it could alter our subconsciousness and attachment to the real world.

Sociology conducts that we are social beings by nature. We socialize within space. The change in the nature of this space suggests a change in our own behavior. So we must ask: is ‌virtual space going to eventually alter our nature? Is the machine going to be a mandatory third part of our human social interactions?

The Jewish Museum in Berlin is an extension project of the Berlin Museum designed by the Libeskind studio in 1999. Since its opening in 2001, it has acquired international prominence and interest for its originative architecture and the spatial experience it provides.

The building is a clear statement of deconstructivism with its irregular frame and openings.

It is an incarnated narrative of Jewish history. Through its “sharp” forms and angles, it imposes remembrance of the holocaust and demands avowal.

Mass plan and intermediate environment

The project imposes its settlement within its environment. It contrasts its surroundings using unusual forms and materials as if it demonstrates resistance and preservice to Jewish identity within German society.

The building has no entrance of its own. It is accessible through an underground passageway connected to the ancient Baroque museum. This latter goes all the way to the adjacent designed green landscape: “ the exile garden.”

The circuitous entry within the old building makes an unfunctional concrete articulation that penetrates all its levels. It symbolizes the everlasting connection of the Jewish people to Berlin's history.

The forme

The zigzag-shaped building creates a scar in Berlin’s landscape like that in German history. It symbolizes a deformed star of David that testifies to the torment of the Jewish people.

The exterior is covered with titanium-zinc-clad that creates a beautiful metallic effect when in contact with the sun's rays. It is an act of resistance.

Scar-like openings of different heights abrupt the cold blandness of the outer walls & go in all directions, making it almost impossible to decipher the stories and levels on the inside.

The void

A straight line that cuts through the zigzag plan generates several vacuum places (voids): Empty concrete nooks, unheated and often dimly lit.

These voided places interrupt the agile nature of the plan and impose stillness. As if, on a metaphorical plan, they impose on you to stop and pay respects, to empathize with the loss, absence, and emptiness the Jewish community endured.

The interior is not any less impressive and reactive. Its complex plans promote movement, stillness, light, darkness, orientation, disorientation, guilt, hope, and many more sensations.

These latter are organized along three main axes that cross the zigzag plan.

Each axe represents an experience of the Jewish people throughout history. It aims to animate it and provoke the sensations attributed to it.

The Axe of the Holocaust

It’s only accessible by the underground route and ends with the Holocaust tower, “ the voided void”—a concrete silo with a single light source.

Standing there in that intimated space, feelings of anxiety and abyss take over. It’s a void in memory and an attempt to eradicate Jewish presence.

But if you look at the scar-like narrow slit, that’s hope—a promise of resurrection.

Shalekhet

Shalakhet in Hebrew or “the fallen leaves” is an art installation down in the memory void by the artist Menashe Kadisheman. It is known to provide its visitors with a unique sensorial experience.

The installation is composed of over ten thousand miniature metallic faces with screaming features. They cover the floor of the cold concrete void, making the only way out of it is through them.

When stepping over the screaming faces, the friction of the metallic pieces echoes through the concrete partitions and creates an agonized sound.

This space-sound stimulation generates feelings of guilt and anxiety. It revives the memory of those terminated in the war by making their voices finally heard. It’s a compulsory remembrance and acknowledgment of suffering.

Axe of exile

The passageway takes you outside of the building and into the exile garden. With its inclined

Tilted walls and narrow ways, it oppresses its passengers into leaving its territory to the unknown.

The exile garden

The garden is a rooted statement to the attempt at extirpation and root-out of the Jewish community from Germany. It hangs over 49 concrete stelae in reference to the exile in Babylone and the diaspora in the biblical narrative. While the olive trees planted in soil from Berlin and Jerusalem symbolize uprooting and pertinence.

The leaning pillars are arranged like a labyrinth: the sameness of the concrete elements causes a loss of reference, and the oblique angles are disorientating, giving the illusion of imbalance.

The performed oppression by the maze and human brains’ search for a reference point shifts the vision to the zenith. There, you get a glimpse of the sky through the entangled tree branches: hope and light to guide you through.

Axe of continuity

It is the longest and only one leading to the upper floors into the galleries, where different exhibitions showcase Jewish heritage and history.

One of the permanent exhibitions is an interpretation of the story of the creation: a beautiful wooden sculptured tree that signs the beginning of history navigation.

The vertical ascendance using the stair symbolizes elevation and continuum. This axe emphasizes the importance of knowing history to plan for the future.

This project is entitled “Between the Lines” and as its name suggests, It is a vivid expression of history. It uses volumes and shapes to animate and revive the Jewish experience.

The building can be described as interesting, complex, provoking, and hostile. Daniel uses unconventional angles, light, and obscurity, guided and disorienting passageways to summon emotions and personify the experience.

The use of symbolism in this artwork is dominant and very much derived from the cultural background of the Architect and the Judaism biblical narrative. All the bold statements the edifice makes qualify it to be a great example of architecture’s utilization in storytelling and commemoration.

The Sancaklar mosque is located in a suburbs-neighborhood in Istanbul, Turkey. Designed by Emre Arolat Architecture in 2011-2013, the mosque has since acquired attention for its unique design and clear display of space essence.

With a surface of 1300m², the mosque sits on and merges with a beautiful natural landscape that overlooks the Buyukcekmece Lake.

According to the teachings of Islam, you are to pray anywhere that’s not profane. Thus, the choice of the site is rather strategic. It is proximate to the main gathering places (library, communal place, and tea house) and middles the suburban landscape.

Mass plan and immediate environment

Looking from afar, the mosque is shy and barely distinguishable, unlike most mosques that are set to be grandiose. Your only guide to it are the stone walls and inscriptions on its neolithic-stonelike minaret.

While the body of the mosque is below ground level, this latter is surrounded by an upper courtyard through which you can directly access the prayer hall.

The yard and the stairs pattern follows the natural talus of the terrain. In addition to the natural greenery covering the grounds and the roofs, the integration is seamless and effortless, as if meant to be.

Natural elements

Water and plants are a characterizing element of Islamic architecture, for the religion itself calls for living in harmony with the environment.

The green roofs of the mosque not only serve as a great insulation technique, but it is also an aesthetic feature and a camouflage cape that blends the structure into the landscape.

Form

The mosque hides within the terrain slope. It is there, and yet it’s not. Through its incarnated structure it imitates the cave of “Hiraa”: where the first revelation took place. And it prepares the worshipers to enter into a divine state of reverence.

While it is aesthetically modest, the project illustrates and symbolizes the Islamic narrative profoundly.

By being the closest to the ground and fusing within it, the Masjid is in Sujud mode, submitting to the creator of all, He, who promises that “Whoever humbles himself for God, shall be raised.”

The minaret is a big stone slab. This Islamic architectural element was once used to diffuse the call for prayer. Now, it's rather a permanent reminder, making the rigid and raw stone a perfect material choice.

Interiors

Entering the prayer hall and into the earth is an act of reverence. The mind is set to disconnect from the outer world and connect with God.

The interior is minimal and dimly lit. The concrete walls are blank, except for a cavity in the Qibla wall that designates Al Mihrab and one Quranic inscription on a reflective surface.

The inner place is spacious and free. The contrast between the length and width of the prayer hall reinforces the cave narrative and generates a feeling of interment.

The ceiling is of a unique shape. It follows the same pattern of graduation that rules the outer terrain’s contour lines and the stairs.

Materials

The materials are on display both outside and inside the mosque. They are exceptionally raw and opaque with a dominance of stone.

The choice of this heavy material not only provides excellent insulation but also serves the abstract concept of the mosque. It harmonizes with the outer landscape and smoothes the integration within it.

Ornamentation

Usually, Islamic architecture uses floral ornamentations and Arabic Quranic scriptures to decorate mosques. Here, the edifice is rather sobre and minimal.

Instead of using the image of nature, it uses natural elements and displays unprocessed materials. This reflects the approach of asceticism and shifts the focus to worship and connecting with Allah.

Also, the deprivation of light, except for the light strips, accentuates the gradation principle.

While natural luminance barely infiltrates through the Qibla wall, changing throughout the day, it makes an animated ornament, forever timeless.

This project provides a whole new approach to mosque designs. It focuses on the main function of the place and understands it to provide the users with a great spiritual experience.

“We are from earth and, to it we shall return.” This mosque is a great example of natural integration within a site. It showcases how respecting the environment and working with it leads to achieving better results. This exceeds being an environmental duty, but is also a religious command to respect the vessel (earth) we live in but do not own.

The world you live in, the house, furniture, and your wardrobe. The tools you use, and even the aesthetic pictures in your Instagram feed. Is it all intuitive? Your singular choice and taste? Or is it all part of the greatest design? Are you TOO stuck in the Bauhaus loop?

Founded by Walter Gropius in 1919 in Weimar, the Staatliche Bauhaus is a German atypical art and architecture school. It aspired to reform the education of Architecture, Arts, and crafts and implement its revolutionary ideas. Unfortunately,  because of the Nazis' suppression, its action didn’t last long, and it was dissolved in 1933. But its effect is forever lasting.

From the architectural template around us to inside our pockets: everything is screaming BAUHAUS, and we love it!

Architecture

Clean lines, basic geometric shapes, and elemental colors: that’s the Bauhaus signature.

In their quest for a new aesthetic that is “functional,” all traditional ornamentation was set aside. Instead, beauty is found in transparency, simplicity, and exposition of raw materials. With these features, the school’s body did not just create a new architecture but also, conceived the face of modernism.

After the school’s stoppage, ‌ many architects took up where it left off, and many sub-BAUHAUSian movements emerged, ‌ such as brutalism, and minimalism. This diversity allowed the heritage to last and evolve into what we see today.

Fashion

It’s no secret that architecture and fashion get along well. We have seen over the years many architects creating wonders on runways rather than just building them. And it doesn’t stop there: the inspirational exchange between these two fields is reciprocal.

Architecture served as a main source of inspiration to several designers and famous brands such as Prada, Yves Saint Lauren, and many more. More particularly, and looking at the past 100 years of fashion creations, cycles, and trends, the BUAHAUSian traits are unmissable.

To this day, the textile industry reproduces and re-interpreters the Bauhaus textile and patterns to create modern clothes and homeware. The streamlined garments displayed on stores' frontals and inside our closets, and those of our mothers, withhold the Bauhaus signature. As “Vintage” becomes the new modern, it’s a timeless chic.

Photography

The notion of photography has evolved a lot over the past decades. With the popularization of smartphones and social media, images have become a common way of expression and communication.

With the vulgarization of the tools, everyone took photos. The challenge was now on how to achieve authenticity, whether by experimenting with angles, components, and light,  or by posing, editing, and adding filters.

Looking back at the Bauhaus archive, pictures taken 100 years ago seem to share the aesthetic ambiance of today. The high/low angles, light patterns, the subject and composition of objects in the frame, sets (urban/human- natural/human) affinity. And even cursory trends like the famous bathroom mirror selfie.

Tools and technology

Many modern world companies source inspiration from the BAUHAUS legacy: from web page design, typography, and logos, to digital devices,  home appliances, and furniture.

The most seeming example is Apple’s company: its thin yet elegant product design became a token of modernity and digital development.

On the other hand, other famous brands like IKEA and Knoll, are not only inspired by the school’s patrimony but also revive it and keep it in stock. Many iconic objects such as the Laccio table, Barcelona chair, and Replica lamps, are still to this day, symbols of sophistication and stylishness.

Educational approaches

The Bauhaus has revolutionized education! Not exclusively that of architecture but the whole learning process approach.  It broke the rigidity of the ancient educational system and, “modernized” it.

It allowed a certain level of flexibility that opened doors to new horizons. By changing the mediation between learners and professors, students became more than passive recipients and managed to project their visions and personal impressions. This approach allowed them to mold their own unique learning experiences and exchange with other colleagues and even with teachers themselves.

The school’s experience is to be retained. By keeping up to date with the evolving needs of society, the gap between theoretical learning and practical life was diminished. And, the students were part of the production process and active contributors in their formation.

The school held preliminary workshops and activities that experimented with materials and forms to develop the senses. These latter are proven to be effective in improving children’s consciousness of what’s around them and how they interact with it.

The BAUHAUS mindset

Are we too, thinking Bauhaus?

“Form follows function, aesthetics in utility, constant development and smart use of resources.” That’s what the Bauhausian philosophy stands for— encouraging productivity and finding the beauty of things in their utility and usefulness. Likewise, what today’s hustle culture is promoting.

By romanticizing the “functionality” race, individuals’ value and fairness became contingent upon their output. It’s a forever-lasting race with time and one’s self to become your best version—  modern, utile, raw, and always relevant.

“If your contribution has been vital, there will always be somebody to pick up where you left off, and that will be your claim to immortality,” says Walter Gropius.

The school did not solely revolutionize architecture but also reshaped the world that we know today.

By creating undying objects, it gave us the illusion of progress, of change, and that we were in control of our design instincts. Whereas, we might just be recipients.

The Bauhaus claimed immortality through shape-shifting and evolution so that it was always modern, functional, and relevant.

With all that in mind, it is now vital more than ever, to escape the loop. Look at our modern world from a distance for a more objective/neutral perspective when conceiving and rethinking the future.

This project is a result of an architectural and urban programming study. It was set to satisfy the needs of the local community of the chosen site. The goal of this project design was to create an integrated project that's feasible in real life, from the preliminary site studies to the execution file.

Genesis of the idea

"Youth is a source of latent energy; to exploit it, you have to extract it, to extract it, you have to stimulate it. Once out, it risks being dispersed in space or misused. Thus, you have to capture it... not too tight or too loose: It requires its freedom of movement, but still, it must be shaped, guided, and directed, so that its agitation is constructive and positive." Through its design, this youth center aims to be the place where this potential energy thrives and is directed to serve the community.

Description

This project is situated in a relatively new residential area on the outskirts of the city, which lacks spaces where young people can spend time, communicate, and harness their energy.

The designs use a dynamic approach of creating organic-shaped open spaces with movable partitions. It focuses on inclusivity by providing smooth accessibility for people with disabilities and different physical and intellectual activities for all.

The design valorizes the use of natural elements to dynamize the space (accessible roof gardens, solarium, and polyvalent interior spaces, with the possibility of extension to exterior green spaces).

Volumetry

Technical file