http://www.smartarch.nl/smartgrid/items/018_paper.htm
The archives of the NAi (Netherlands Architecture Institute) are full of
architecture dreams in cardboard. Paper was the building material for
buildings in scale. That paper as fragile, flammable and cheap material is
also suitable for making real buildings seemed unthinkable, until recently.
There are of course a lot of finishing materials in which paper is
processed. For example plasterboards, wallpaper and eco-insulation from
paper shredding. But cardboard in carrying constructions seems at best
something for card houses.
http://www.dnp.co.jp/millennium/SB/paper/paper1_e.html
We first used paper tubes in an installation project for an exhibition of
Alba Aalto's Work in 1986 and noticed their potential as a building
material with considerable aesthetic possibilities. We then built
Suikinkutsu Arbor using 48 paper tubes in the venue of the Nagoya Design
Exposition which was followed by Main Hall for the Odawara Festival and
Library of a Poet. In 1993, paper tubes were officially authorized by the
Minister of Construction as structural materials for permanent building
structures in conformity with Article 38 of the Building Standards Act.
When we were developing shelters for refugees in Africa using this system
in cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, a great earthquake hit the Hanshin Awaji area of western Japan on
January 17, 1995. We then decided to build temporary houses for people
whose houses were destroyed by the earthquake as well using the same system.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Of course, we have used the term "paper architecture" to mean an
architectural proposal on paper that likely could not be built. This
reminds me of present-day virtual architecture. I had mentioned in an
earlier post that virtual architecture could not be built without a
mathematical connection between its' 2-space representations and a 3-space
reality. This is the very same problem of deigning 3-space in 2-space. I
would say that the most successful way of designing 3-space concepts is in
3-space. It is there that they can really be seen and developed. I am not
saying that drawing is unimportant. It is important. It's an easy starting
place for 3-space concepts. So, I guess we could many times call virtual
architecture an improbable "electronic or energy-based architecture". This
is not to be confused with actual paper architecture. About this, I have
included a couple of references above.
.H.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The archives of the NAi (Netherlands Architecture Institute) are full of
architecture dreams in cardboard. Paper was the building material for
buildings in scale. That paper as fragile, flammable and cheap material is
also suitable for making real buildings seemed unthinkable, until recently.
There are of course a lot of finishing materials in which paper is
processed. For example plasterboards, wallpaper and eco-insulation from
paper shredding. But cardboard in carrying constructions seems at best
something for card houses.
http://www.dnp.co.jp/millennium/SB/paper/paper1_e.html
We first used paper tubes in an installation project for an exhibition of
Alba Aalto's Work in 1986 and noticed their potential as a building
material with considerable aesthetic possibilities. We then built
Suikinkutsu Arbor using 48 paper tubes in the venue of the Nagoya Design
Exposition which was followed by Main Hall for the Odawara Festival and
Library of a Poet. In 1993, paper tubes were officially authorized by the
Minister of Construction as structural materials for permanent building
structures in conformity with Article 38 of the Building Standards Act.
When we were developing shelters for refugees in Africa using this system
in cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, a great earthquake hit the Hanshin Awaji area of western Japan on
January 17, 1995. We then decided to build temporary houses for people
whose houses were destroyed by the earthquake as well using the same system.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Of course, we have used the term "paper architecture" to mean an
architectural proposal on paper that likely could not be built. This
reminds me of present-day virtual architecture. I had mentioned in an
earlier post that virtual architecture could not be built without a
mathematical connection between its' 2-space representations and a 3-space
reality. This is the very same problem of deigning 3-space in 2-space. I
would say that the most successful way of designing 3-space concepts is in
3-space. It is there that they can really be seen and developed. I am not
saying that drawing is unimportant. It is important. It's an easy starting
place for 3-space concepts. So, I guess we could many times call virtual
architecture an improbable "electronic or energy-based architecture". This
is not to be confused with actual paper architecture. About this, I have
included a couple of references above.
.H.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++