Hybridity in Architecture
Hybridity takes many forms in architecture and urbanism. In architecture, the idea of hybridity initiates from concepts and programming, continuously evolves through forms and space, and eventually matures in tectonics and materials. The recent investigations focus on space and material hybridity. In urbanism, hybridity arises from the organization of urban environments ranging from housing development to infrastructure planning. The hybridity is created through the application of modular and adaptive components following a set of rules. The idea will be further explored in the following chapter.
Kaleidoscape | Dynamic Programing Diagram
Soft Rigidity | System Overview
Tectonic and Material Hybridity
The most tangible way to describe hybridity is through materials. We are interested in developing new materials that are to combine multiple common materials to generate new properties.
Soft Rigidity is the development of a skin-wall system that combines concrete with Kevlar. Tectonic Systems in architecture have traditionally dictated the methodologies of design. Previously setting limitations in theories of form, product development, construction, and fabrication techniques along with social conventions. Tectonic systems are now at a phase of re-invention where architecture, in the moment of a break from the standardized cartesian system, begins to challenge those practices by using technology and finally capitalizing on the digital epoch. Using a combination of traditional materials and new industry products, in this case, concrete and Kevlar, a series of processes begin to construct systems of formal and structural conditions. Along with the conception of topological differentiation, calculus, and time-based geometries, the experiment generates new ideas for surface creation, in this case, derived from the opposition of high-tensile fabric and a solidifying compression agent. Geometrical manipulation then becomes the driving ideology behind the theoretical frame of design.
Soft Rigidity was first developed with Christopher Turner in 2003.
Soft Rigidity | System Diagrams
Performative Segmentation
Performative Segmentation focuses on the materialization and construction logics of the unit-based tectonic system. The idea of repetition and variation is another form of hybridity. The heterogeneous system is usually composed of multiple elements which may share similar parameters while the variations on scales, porosity or materials make each element as a unique entity, responding to specific social economic or environmental constraints. Each unit combines skin and structural frame, which are connected by a customized adjustable joinery. Various materials are used to accommodate different units’ unique position and function within the system. Each unit adapts according to their specific location and function within the entire system to reach the optimized performance.
Performative Segmentation | Construction Drawings & Fabrication Diagram
Concept and Programming Hybridity
Dynamic Programming, a concept that centers on the idea that programming is not a static process. Space evolves through the life of a building or structure. Functions can change from time to time. How we can design a space to accommodate the constantly changing needs of the modern time becomes the challenge to rethink programming. Through modular and adaptive components and dynamic wall system, we introduce hybridity in space to accommodate the needs.
Kaleidoscape celebrates the diversity of all people coming together to form communities. Analogous to a community Kaleidoscape consists of a series of individual parts that can shift like a kaleidoscope to form new multifaceted landscapes. These landscapes can accommodate a multiplicity of uses depending on the needs of their community. Kaleidoscape is a portable unit that can be easily transported, replicated, and become an icon throughout the city for services that support and engage communities.
To maximize its efficiency Kaleidoscape operates on many levels. It is easily transported as a box that holds smaller modular units that can be deployed in a variety of configurations to support a diversity of uses such as job fairs, cultural exchanges, language classes, information services, and different local community activities. The wide range of possible configurations allows Kaleidoscape to operate in different ways depending on a community’s individual needs. The box itself functions as a hub for the modules that provides electricity and internet access and can also unfold to provide a semi-enclosed seating area that could host classes, a café, or be an information center.
Kaleidoscape | Module Diagrams