DAP: Architectonics

ARCHI-TECTONICS

Archi-Tectonics, and its leader, Winka Dubbeldam is one of today’s most technically savvy and innovative practices in the field. The firm’s portfolio includes high-end urban spaces such as their Greenwich Street Project in New York City, as well as residential work, such as the Millbrook residence. The firm is also involved in experimental design competitions, including their massive restructuring of New York City by 2030. Lastly, the firm recognizes the potential for architecture in all forms, and has been seen in exhibitions, notably the Masonry Variations at the National Building Museum.

The motive is to reject today’s typical modern ‘blob architecture’ trend that has been associated with the latest technologies and animation software. For Archi-Tectonics, computers are used as generative tools, heuristic instruments that aid and frame complex problems for research. Their philosophy is to rethink, re-interpret and re-investigate the details of their projects. Doing so opens new windows into programmatic efficiencies, urban specificities and material innovations. The use of hybrid materials to create smart buildings is facilitated by the use of virtual programming that allows Archi-Tectonis to change the way buildings are perceived both as units and within the urban landscape. Using programs like Maya and Catia, Archi-Tectonics is able to create surface modulations once thought impossible. Furthermore, the digital creation of these files allows them to be FTF, or, file to factory, which allows these modulations to become tangible elements.
Innovative computer analysis allows Archi-Tectonics to alter the focus of their projects away from form and aesthetics and more towards performative and intelligent design, blurring the lines between architecture and industrial design. One unique way Archi-Tectonics challenges the distinction is with the definition of prefabricated structure. Where the term ‘prefabricated’ usually refers to the repetition of identical elements, Archi-Tectonics flips it on its side, defining the term as a series of varying elements that are developed based on their performance, not their shape. Or, for example, in the Greenwich Street lofts, a renovated warehouse wraps an inverted L-shape around an adjacent brick building, and a 10,000 square-foot curtain of bent-glass ripples as it cascades down the façade. Other innovations in Archi-Tectonics’ buildings are in their pragmatic function for the user. The firm believes that there is no reason architecture should mean a sacrifice of efficiency and ease of use, so innovations in geothermal energy, and robotics allow inhabitants of the developed spaces to be aided electronically in every possible way. Behind the recycled glass and brick facades that dip and dive and fragment, are robotic lighting and storage, which puts organization and allocation into the hands of machines that can systematically organize storage space and adjust solar panels so they are absorbing the maximum amount of light.

Future Archi-Tectonics projects include the projected reconstruction of New York City by 2030. This project involves the systematic organization of space on a large scale. One of the greatest untapped resources in New York is the surrounding water and the project fully takes advantage of its power. Separating the space and organizing the area and redefining new energies, such as tidal, solar and wind allow a much greener atmosphere. Because these energy sources are clean, the area around their production plants can be much better utilized. The island of Manhattan would be devoted to residential and social activity while small urban islands allow additional space for commercial and industrial function. One of the greatest struggles faced by New York is the need for additional transportation routes. The new plan activates the water as usable space for movement. Its ingenuity is unparalleled and could create a pragmatic and economically efficient urban center.