watercolors – anonymous

chapel of saint ignatius, steven holl

December 30, 2018January 19, 2020 jlorenzotorresLeave a comment

Designed by Steven Holl, the Chapel of Saint Ignatius was conceived as “…seven bottles of light in a stone box…” in reference to San Ignacio de Loyola’s vision of a spiritual life comprised of darkness and light, which he referred as consolations and desolations.

The chapel was built in 1997 and it is located in the campus of Seattle University in First Hill, Downtown Seattle. The main structure of the chapel was erected in twelve hours due to the use of tilt-up concrete walls. Such method of tilt-up construction is traditionally used where the repetition and mass production of panels guarantee speed, therefore cost-effectiveness. In contrast, every panel used at the chapel is unique. Each pre-cast concrete wall (“stone box”) has a distinct profile designed to interlock in order to form slits that let in natural light. In addition, the walls provide distinctive profiles from where a lightweight construction roof curves and contorts to form skylights (“bottles of light“) that allow in additional natural light. The light entering through the slits and skylights is filtrated by a mix of colored, translucent and transparent glass and it does not enter directly into the space. Curving walls serve as baffles where light bounce off. Each baffle has a complementary color to the color of the glass. The reflected light gets redirected towards the walls in a subtle — yet intense — way. All interior walls have been finished with a textured plaster and what seems at first as an odd design decision, once bathed in light, becomes clear to the keen observer.

The sketches below record my first two visits to the chapel. It was raining during my first visit so I could not experience the incidence of natural light entering through the skylights. On the second visit, however, the experience was completely different. When the reflected colored natural light structs the rugged texture of the interior plaster, it creates an optical illusion. Father Gerald T. Cobb S.J. refers to the light that enters the chapel as “…light that acts like liquid, an aqueous medium spilling across interior surfaces.” In truth, it is a difficult effect to describe but the chapel interiors bathed in light give a sense as if inhabiting a watercolor.

Steven Holl’s pursuit for phenomenological occurrences is well known. In his essay A Gathering of Different Lights he mentions “… to feel these physicalities is to become a subject of the senses.” Furthermore, he adds that… “an awareness of one’s unique existence in space is essential in developing a consciousness of perception.”

Entrance & Procession; view from the Narthex towards the Baptistry.

Baptistry. Inscribed at the edge of the baptismal font: “No barrier can divide where life unites: one faith, one fount, one spirt, makes one people.”

Main Sanctuary (view from baptistry)

Main Sanctuary (towards the altar)

Main Sanctuary (view from the altar)

Holl assures us that “architecture holds the power to inspire and transform our day-to-day existence.” And while I do not claim that my sketches illustrate the phenomenon I experienced, they certainly give a sense of the spatial quality of the chapel. In fact, in my opinion, having examined Holl’s own watercolors for Saint Ignatius, they also fall short at representing the effect. However, whether intentional or not, the experience is there. Well done Holl.

Choir (looking towards the Main Sanctuary)

san francisco art institute

December 19, 2018January 24, 2021 jlorenzotorres1 Comment

The campus of the San Francisco Art Institute in Russian Hill was designed in the 1920s by Bakewell and Brown, architects of the City Hall and the Coit Tower.

Later in 1969, Paffard Keatinge-Clay, who had worked in Le Corbusier’s atelier in 1948, designed its addition. The program consists of additional art studios, classrooms, faculty and administrative offices, an auditorium, gallery spaces, and a cafeteria, among other programs. Except for the roof terrace (where the auditorium, cafe, and gallery spaces are located), the addition sits below the existing complex’s main level due to the abrupt change in topography.

The structure resembles the Swiss-French master’s Carpenter Center at Harvard, where béton brut, ramps, light canons, and brise soleils are integral elements of the composition.

However, in comparison to its East Coast precedent, one could argue that there are far less poetic licenses being present at the Institute. For example, at the Carpenter, the ramp is employed for the sole purpose of producing an architectural promenade. In other words [granting that the ramp at the Carpenter is, in fact, one of the leading architectural elements offering unobstructed views of the building’s interior spaces; art galleries and studios] the ramp seems quite a gratuitous way to provide a shortcut through the structure and give access to a secondary entrance and ancillary programs.

Nevertheless, the secondary nature of the entrance, almost to justify the ramp’s need, stresses its excessiveness. In contrast, the ramp at the Art Institute not only stitches the interior spaces of the addition with the existing structure but also serves as a bridge that safeguards the abrupt change in topography.

Furthermore, at the Carpenter, the roof terrace or fifth façade is enjoyed solely by a private apartment for visiting faculty/artists. At Keatinge-Clay’s addition, the toit-jardín is –in contrast — the protagonist space. In true emulation of Le Corbusier’s ideas, the roof terrace at the Art Institute becomes a public square, a gathering space where multiple activities take place.

The main space of the terrace (represented on the last sketch and axonometric above) is enclosed on three sides: the main auditorium, an indoor and outdoor gallery space, and the cafeteria. In contrast to the enclosed nature of the existing courtyard, the roof terrace of the additional frame panoramic views of the city as it becomes the hierarchical space of the project.

Also, the roofs over the external gallery, cafe, and auditorium become accessible terraces and not only provide additional vantage points of the city but also allow for a diverse array of activities to occur simultaneously.

poetry foundation

November 24, 2018January 20, 2020 jlorenzotorresLeave a comment

These sketches were done a year after I first visited this place in 2015. (Please refer to a previous post below for that first visit.) https://anonymousarchitecture.wordpress.com/2015/06/14/the-poetry-foundation-by-john-ronan-architects/

It’s been almost four years since that first visit and three since I made these interior sketches. In retrospect, I still think this is one of the most beautiful buildings I have encountered in recent years.

the barnes foundation

November 21, 2018November 21, 2018 jlorenzotorresLeave a comment

Casa Vives, Ponce, Puerto Rico

November 3, 2018November 3, 2018 jlorenzotorresLeave a comment

A few years ago my wife Claudia Rosa-López and I led a group of students from Polytechnic University in documenting this house. With their set of drawings they earned a Third Place award at Peterson Prize, sponsored by the Historic American Building Survey of National Park Service. Today, the students’ drawings can be accessed at the Library of Congress site through this link: https://www.loc.gov/item/pr1528/

Built about 1860 and designed by French immigrant architect Juan Bertoli Calderoni, Casa Vives in Ponce, Puerto Rico is an outstanding example of a 19th-century Puerto Rican urban residence with commercial spaces on the ground floor and residential spaces above.

A few hours at the Kimbell Museum of Art

November 9, 2016November 9, 2016 jlorenzotorresLeave a comment

Designed in 1967 by architect Louis I. Kahn and finished in 1972 in collaboration with landscape architects Harriet Pattison and George Patton; and structural engineer August Komendant.

The museum can be accessed through either the lawn and the beautiful mass of yaupon hollies trees out in the entrance courtyard or the rear parking lot (to the East) one story below the main floor.

Either way you enter, the spatial sequence of the building is magnificently clearly laid out.

The museum is comprised of 16 parallel halls covered by 20 feet wide by 100 feet long post-tensioned reinforced concrete shells (or vaults). Each thin vault is supported by four reinforced concrete columns which can be visible throughout the building.

Entrance courtyard with yaupon hollies and opened porches that overlook the water pools.

Main vestibule looking towards the northern courtyard and main stairs connecting to the Eastern vestibule.

The interior curving shells have light slots that allows for natural light to enter the galleries. Stainless steel reflectors bounce the natural light difuminating it throughout the curving vaults illuminating the gallery interiors with a soft well-distributed natural light.

The Poetry Foundation by John Ronan Architects; courtyard by Reed-Hilderbrand Landscape Architects

June 14, 2015January 20, 2020 jlorenzotorres2 Comments

Designed by John Ronan AIA, the Poetry Foundation is located in a corner lot in West Superior and North Dearborn streets in Near North Side, Chicago. At first glance, the building seems like a solid volume, with its main façades aligned with the street frontage.

However, the building’s skin — primarily built in perforated metal — encloses an interior garden, designed by Doug Reed, that allows the main spaces to overlook the vegetated space through a fully glazed curtain wall that sets back from the street line. Therefore, the garden serves as a transitional space that guards the interior spaces from the street providing a spatial sequence like not to many contemporary buildings.

Despite being surrounded by the metal veil, the garden is visible from the sidewalk inviting visitors to enter freely from the site’s corner. Although trees populate almost entirely the open space, they are carefully placed to provide a path leading to the main entrance of the Foundation.

Although I visited the building on a Sunday, I experienced the spatial sequence of the garden, which gives the building a fascinating atmosphere. In retrospect, the courtyard of this compact urban building (completely aware of the difference in scale and culture) reminds of the Orange tree courtyard of the Great Mosque of Córdoba which offers itself as an oasis for wanderers, artists, and poets to shelter from the harshness of the surrounding context.

The following drawings are my attempt to illustrate and make sense of the spatial sequence of the Poetry Foundation’s garden.

Diseñada por John Ronan AIA, la sede del Poetry Foundation se encuentra en un lote de esquina en las calles West Superior y North Dearborn en Near North Side, Chicago. A primera vista, el edificio parece un volumen sólido, con sus fachadas principales alineadas con la línea de fachada hacia la calle.

Sin embargo, la piel del edificio — principalmente construida en metal perforado — encierra un jardín interior que permite que los espacios principales miren al espacio vegetado a través d una piel acristalada que recede de la línea de fachada. Por lo tanto, el jardín sirve de espacio de transición que protege los espacios interiores de la calle.

A pesar de estar rodeado por el velo metálico, el jardín es visible desde la acera invitando a los visitantes a entrar libremente desde la esquina del edificio. Aunque los árboles pueblan casi en su totalidad el espacio abierto, se colocan cuidadosamente proporcionando un camino que conduce a la entrada principal del edificio.

Aunque visité el edificio en domingo (que estaba cerrado al público), pude experimentar la secuencia espacial del jardín, que otorga al edificio de un ambiente fascinante.

En retrospectiva, el patio de este compacto edificio urbano (completamente consciente de la diferencia de escala y cultural) recuerda al Patio de los Naranjos de la Mezquita de Córdoba, que se ofrece a visitantes, artistas y poetas, como un oasis para descansar de la dureza del contexto urbano.

Los dibujos arriba son mi intento de ilustrar y captar el sentido de la secuencia espacial del jardín de la Fundación.

Thanks to Virginia Durán (www.duranvirginia.wordpress.com) for sharing her Architectural Guide of Chicago. (https://duranvirginia.wordpress.com/2012/10/18/architecture-planning-a-trip-to-chicago/)

Casa Klumb

November 11, 2014January 16, 2019 jlorenzotorresLeave a comment

The Klumb house, previously known as el Rancho Cody, was acquired by Henry Klumb in 1947. The house belonged to José Ramón Latimer and his wife Esther C. Cody who rented out rooms. In 1949 Klumb remodel the structure which was a traditional pitched-roof wood structure raised from the terrain with a surrounding balcony that opened directly towards the outside.

The intervention instead of consisting of additions to the original layout was more about subtraction as if adhering to Mies’ “less is more” predicament. Klumb eliminated — almost entirely — the enclosing walls to allow continuity between the public spaces of the house and the veranda. Thus, the living room (in the front) and the dinning room (at the back) — maintaining the original layout — were left completely open. The bedrooms remained partially enclosed and large operable pivoting windows allowed for privacy while allowing cross ventilation and when opened visual and physical connection with the balcony.

Klumb, his wife Else and their two children Peter and Richard lived in the house until 1984 when Klumb and Else died as a result of a car accident.

After their death, the house was acquired by the University of Puerto Rico in 1986, but was left abandoned to its current state of deterioration. In 1997 it was included as a Regional Monument in the National Register of Historic Places and in 2012 it was elevated to the status of National Monument by the same entity. In 2014 the house was included in the World Monuments Watch and in March Comité Casa Klumb was created to aid at the restoration of the structure.

Here are a few drawings I made during a visit to the Casa Klumb organized by the committee as part of a series of activities aimed at raising awareness of the house condition and its future restoration.

The living room

The dining room

The dining room table

floor plan and axon

officer’s club

October 27, 2011October 28, 2011 jlorenzotorresLeave a comment

Obra del arquitecto Jesús Eduardo Amaral el club de oficiales es uno de nuestros mejores ejemplos de arquitectura moderna en Puerto Rico. Base Ramey, Aguadilla.